


Collateral Damage

by irrelevanttous



Series: Jalice Hogwarts AU [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Adult Content, Alice is SHOOK, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Human, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Jalice, Jasper does the baseball bat spin from the first movie but with a Beater’s bat, Rosalie is her usual self, Slow Burn, and turned on, meaning she is a badass, now get ready for Vampire QUIDDITCH, only that no one is a vampire, the slowest slowburn in the history of slowburns, you thought vampire baseball was cool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:28:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 114,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26411908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevanttous/pseuds/irrelevanttous
Summary: Alice Brandon – recently appointed Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – was expecting the worst: She had been looking forward to her last year of school, but now she would have to share premises with Head Boy Whitlock of all people, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, archenemy of her former best friend James and pain of her existence!But then again, somehow Jasper seemed to have matured over the summer and hadn’t even once asked her to go out with him yet. So maybe it was time to change old habits and try to get along with him for once? After all, even Dumbledore seemed to trust them to be able to do it, so why shouldn’t Alice?And then there was the endless drama between Emmett McCarty and Alice’s best friend Rosalie Hale, who seemed to live by the principle “all is fair in love and war.”
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale, Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale
Series: Jalice Hogwarts AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1997755
Comments: 133
Kudos: 77





	1. Rosalie's Arrival

**Title: Collateral damage**

**Word count: 100,199**

**Pairings:** Alice Brandon & Jasper Whitlock (main), Rosalie Hale & Emmett McCarty (side), Bella Swan & Edward Masen (minor)

 **POV** : Third person, because I enjoy being omniscient in my stories and also because I haven’t written a single story in first POV since my last Twilight phase in 2009.

**Extended summary:**

_Alice Brandon – recently appointed Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – was expecting the worst: She had been looking forward to her last year of school, but now she would have to share premises with Head Boy Whitlock of all people, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, archenemy of her former best friend James and pain of her existence!_

_But then again, somehow Jasper seemed to have matured over the summer and hadn’t even once asked her to go out with him yet. So maybe it was time to change old habits and actually try to get along with him for once? After all, even Dumbledore seemed to trust them to be able to do it, so why shouldn’t Alice?_

_Overall, it didn’t help that she could occasionally see the future._

_And then there was the endless drama between Emmett McCarty and Alice’s best friend Rosalie Hale, who seemed to live by the principle “all is fair in love and war.”_

_Also, where are Jasper and his group of friends sneaking off to once a month and what does it have to do with their friend Seth Clearwater? And how was James going to react when he found about Jasper and Alice’s new truce?_

  * Jasper & Alice, Rosalie & Emmett, Bella & Edward (minor)



**Rating:** Explicit. I’m an adult and so are my characters (at least in the Wizarding World), therefore please turn back now if you are under 18.

 **Warnings** : Adult language, sexual content in later chapters

 **Disclaimer** : The characters belong to both Stephenie Meyer (mostly) and J.K. Rowling (some). The setting and background don’t belong to me either. The only thing that is mine is the plot and the idea.

 **Additional Information (Somewhat spoilery)** :

  * This story is already finished. I’ve written all of it and will put it on the internet in regular intervals, so don’t worry about me abandoning this story. But prepare yourself, it’s long. I mean really. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written in my entire life. It’s practically a whole book.
  * This story is (Heavily? Loosely?) based on James Potter and Lily Evans’ story. There will be many similarities between them, but I promise that nobody is really OOC. They are not going to die in the near future though, because I do like happy endings and don’t want you to read this story thinking about the impending doom they are about to face. Just imagine them living happily ever after, the chosen one will be born to another couple.
  * I love the Enemies to Friends to Lovers trope, but I think it’s unrealistic if it happens too fast. So prepare yourself for a bit of a slow burn.
  * Everybody is 17 in this story and therefore an **adult** in the Wizarding World. There will be adult content later on. Teachers will look the other way.
  * Everyone is – because of course they are – British, so they will be saying things like “bloody”, “shagging”, “love”, “darling” etc. Other than that, Hogwarts could be anywhere.
  * I’ve mostly based this on **book canon** (characterizations and appearances from Stephenie Meyer, setting and pretty much anything else from J.K. Rowling), but there will be some movie references as well. There's one major thing that's not canon though, and that's the fact that the Head Boy and Head Girl live together in this story in special dormitories.
  * I have never read the Harry Potter books in English, but I’ve done a ton of research while writing this story, so I hope I get everything right. Feel free to tell me if something isn’t correct, like the location of a bathroom or something, because I’m a bloody perfectionist and I will be mad at myself.
  * There are almost no OC in this story because I’ve borrowed even the smallest of characters from Stephenie Meyer (or J.K. Rowling), but I did invent some surnames for people who didn’t have one in the source material.
  * The Marauders do exist, but I’ve changed a few things to make them more realistic in the Twilight universe. Jasper for example doesn’t change into a stag, while Emmett doesn’t become a dog, therefore they have different nicknames. Naturally, right? Moony and Wormtail are kind of the same because I saw no need to change them.
  * Edward & Bella as well as Esme & Carlisle are mentioned in this story but play only a minor part. I’ve always thought Jasper & Alice as well as Rosalie & Emmett had more interesting dynamics.
  * English is not my first language, but I’ve lived in the UK for a while, so I like to fool myself into believing it’s fairly adequate. Please, don’t skin me alive for small grammatical errors (Past perfect is a bitch!). I write stories as a way to test my language skills, so please let me know if you find any errors so that I can actually learn something.
  * I actually started to write this story in 2014, so there may be inconsistencies between the writing in the first couple of chapters and the later chapters.



**Character inspiration** :

  * Main: 
    * Mary “Alice” Brandon based on Lily Evans
    * Jasper Whitlock based on James Potter
  * Side: 
    * Rosalie Hale based on Marlene McKinnon
    * Emmett McCarty based on Sirius Black
    * James Lewis based on Severus Snape
    * Bella Swan based on Alice Prewitt (very loosely)
    * Edward Masen based on Frank Longbottom (very loosely)
    * Seth Clearwater based on Remus Lupin
    * Ben Cheney based on Peter Pettigrew (I know it’s unfair to Ben!)
    * Benjamin Amun based on Amos Diggory (very loosely)##



__

_**Inspiration** _

_“How come she married him?”, Harry asked miserably. "She hated him!”_

_“Nah, she didn’t,” said Sirius._

_“She started going out with him in seventh year,” said Lupin._

_“Once James had deflated his head a bit,” said Sirius._

_“And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,” said Lupin._

__

_**~*~** _

__

_**Collateral damage** _

__

_**by MO** _

_**©2014/2020** _

__

__

__

__

__

_**~*~** _

**1.**

_Thursday, September 22, 1977_

_“_ Alice!”

Alice Brandon turned around to look for the familiar voice calling her name. After a brief moment, her eyes landed on a stunning blond girl, dressed in the black school robes. Her hair was dishevelled from the wind outside and the seam of her robe covered in mud, but somehow, she still managed to look like a supermodel.

Alice’s mood improved immediately as she waited for her friend to catch up with her. She wasn’t the only person in the entrance hall to take notice of the blond girl’s arrival.

Rosalie Hale was extraordinarily beautiful, and everyone – including Alice – at school was aware of that. The eyes of every boy had followed her around the school ever since she was twelve. Rose was used to it by now, even enjoyed it, but hardly paid attention to it anymore.

The boys in Gryffindor weren’t alone in their admiration for Rosalie’s beauty. Alice started grinning when a boy from Ravenclaw almost ran against a wall tracing her steps. Her friend was known to turn heads… and break hearts.

A few times Alice had caught herself wondering what it would be like to look like Rosalie, with her waist-length blond hair, blue eyes, and flawless smile. When she had voiced the thought out loud in Rosalie’s presence, the blonde had been astonished. In her opinion, Alice was the prettiest girl at Hogwarts.

Their appearances were quite different, though. Alice Brandon had short, dark hair and very delicate features. She was more than eleven inches shorter than Rosalie. People always told Alice that she moved like a dancer, smoothly and elegantly like she’d never done anything else in her life. Alice actually really enjoyed dancing and was looking forward to the next school dance. Rosalie was more of a team sports player, she loved Quidditch like almost every other student at their school.

"Brandon! I was looking for you everywhere!", Rose exclaimed.

Alice smiled. The use of her surname didn’t surprise her. Most people at Hogwarts called her Brandon. She thought back to the person who’d started that trend and couldn’t help but frown to herself.

"Sorry. I didn't even know you were back. You should have said something!”

Rosalie looked at her in disbelief. "You’re the first person I have spoken to since I arrived!"

Alice laughed at her friend's outrage. "It’s fine. I’ve missed you too much to be annoyed that you haven’t told me you’d be back today. How are you, Rose?"

Rosalie smiled softly. She had not arrived with the Hogwarts Express three weeks ago like all the other pupils, Alice included. Instead, she only just walked back into the school half an hour ago. She and her family had been on an extended vacation in Egypt. Alice was not surprised that the school had allowed Rosalie such privileges: Her father worked in a high position at the Ministry of Magic.

It took Rosalie only a short amount of time to drop off her luggage in Gryffindor Tower and then set out in search of Alice. They had been the best of friends since their first year at Hogwarts, despite their differences.

"Everything’s brilliant, except for one observation I had to make earlier: Why in the name of Merlin's beard aren't your things in our dormitory?" Rosalie refused to believe Alice had been moved to another dormitory for their final year of school.

Alice, on the other hand, only raised her eyebrow and pointed to the badge on her chest that Rosalie had not noticed before. Engraved in the glittering, polished metal were two letters: H.G.

"Oh my God." Rosalie brought her palm to her forehead. "I completely forgot about it! Head Girl, isn’t that right?" She hesitated for a second, before asking: "Who is Head Boy? Please tell me it's not a Slytherin!"

Alice rolled her eyes. When she had received her letter, she’d worried about that, too. Reality was… well…

" _Worse_. It's Whitlock." 

Rosalie stared at her in disbelief. " _Whitlock_? Has Dumbledore completely lost his mind? No one and I mean literally, _no one_ would ever be stupid enough to appoint one of the Marauders as Head Boy!"

Although, when she considered it again, she had to correct herself. "Well, maybe except Clearwater. He’s a Prefect after all. But that's it. The others... Don’t even get me started on McCarty..."

Alice sighed deeply. "I personally would have preferred McCarty to Whitlock, if I'm honest."

However, Alice had to admit that for the last three weeks, it actually hadn’t been as bad as she’d expected when she’d first heard the news that he was to be Head Boy.

Jasper Whitlock actually seemed to have matured at least a little over the summer. That of course didn’t change the fact that he was still far too arrogant for her to tolerate... but at least there was a slight improvement to be seen from their previous years together.

Rosalie looked at Alice with a pitying look until suddenly something came to her mind that she hadn't thought of before... "Hold on a second!"

Her dark-haired friend cast a questioning glance at her. "What?"

"You're Head Girl and Whitlock is Head Boy?" Alice gave her an annoyed look. Yes, that’s what they were talking about for the last few minutes.

But before she could make a sassy comment, Rosalie continued: "That means... you and Whitlock... Well, you practically live together, right? In the dormitories in the astronomy tower?

"Yes." The Head Girl sighed again. "There is no escaping Whitlock this time."

"How many times?", Rosalie asked. "How many times has he asked you if you’ll go out with him?"

"Not once."

"What?” The blonde stared at her friend in disbelief.

Since their fifth year, Jasper Whitlock had made it his mission to make Alice go out with him, unimpressed and unbothered by her obvious dislike towards him and her repeated refusals. And now the first couple of weeks of school were over and he hadn't even asked once?

"Is he alright?", Rosalie wondered with a smirk, half teasingly, half-seriously. 

Rosalie - or all of Hogwarts - had been sure of one thing, Jasper Whitlock would never give up asking Alice to go out with him. It was the only constant in the universe.

Alice, on the other hand, shrugged. "Maybe he finally realized I will never say yes. But then again, poisonous toadstools don't change their spots…"

Rosalie looked at her sceptically from the side. She had always thought Alice and Jasper would make a good couple… they were both stubborn as hell. For obvious reasons, she could never tell Alice about that secret assumption.

The blonde decided to drop the topic and pulled her dark-haired friend towards the Great Hall, heading for their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. It was lunchtime and most of the other students had already finished their first lessons of the day.

As usual, Rosalie’s arrival turned many heads, this time maybe even more so, due to her delayed entrance.

Alice sat down next to Bella Swan and her boyfriend Edward Masen, while Rosalie took a seat opposite the two. Bella was a lovely, round-faced brunette with kind, chocolate brown eyes. Alice had never met anybody who didn’t like Bella.

"Well, how are my favourite two love birds?", Rosalie asked the couple.

Bella smiled happily. "Rosalie, I had no idea you were back!" 

Apart from Alice, Bella was probably the only person who had actually managed to really befriend Rosalie in the last seven years. Most people were too intimidated by her. Boys wanted to sleep with her, girls wanted to be her.

The fact that Bella and Rosalie had eventually become friends didn’t surprise Alice, though. Bella was one of the kindest people she knew and had a lot of patience. Rosalie had originally disliked her (“I don’t trust anybody without a dark side”) but had changed her mind about the brunette after a while. Now they were almost as close as Alice and Rosalie were.

"Very well, thank you. We spent the summer in Italy." Bella gave her boyfriend a side-glance, implying they’d been there together.

Rosalie nodded casually. She already knew this because the two girls had written each other letters during the summer.

That was – unfortunately – an impossibility with Alice: her sister Cynthia (a muggle) hated everything to do with magic and out of consideration for her feelings, Alice had asked her friends not to send her any owls. Alice remembered the one time when Bella had sent her a letter with the Swan family owl… Cynthia had been so angry with her, she hadn’t spoken to her for a week. 

Rosalie turned to Alice again.

"So, _Jasper Whitlock_." It was clear that she wasn’t done talking about the matter. Alice just rolled her eyes and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"What about him?" asked Edward Masen curiously.

"Well, he's Head Boy." Rosalie still sounded like she couldn't believe it.

Bella laughed. "We know that. _We_ didn't have an extended holiday, Rose. He has been Head Boy for three weeks now. "

"I'm genuinely surprised Alice hasn't tried to murder him yet," Edward’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

That made everyone laugh, even Alice herself.

"Actually, he’s been pretty harmless so far," she said to her own astonishment.

Since when was she defending Whitlock?

But she really had to admit that he had been behaving well lately. Granted, he was still... Whitlock. He was still full of himself about being the Quidditch captain. He was still flirting with every girl above year four while having absolutely no intention to go out with them. He was still probably also still playing pranks on unsuspecting people with his annoying friends.

And yet he seemed… more mature.

Rosalie cast a sceptical glance at Alice. It surprised her too, her friend defending Whitlock.

But there was another thing that interested her.

"Have the try-outs taken place yet?" Of course, she was talking about Quidditch. Alice sighed. Her interest in the sport was very limited.

Rosalie had always loved Quidditch and had received so many compliments during the summer playing with friends that she’d decided to try out for the team this year.

"Nope." Edward had been with the team for the last two years. He was an excellent keeper.

"Who is the captain?" asked Rosalie, even though she already knew the answer.

The unequivocal glances her friends threw at her answered her question immediately. Whitlock, then, Rosalie thought. Again. He had been Quidditch captain of Gryffindor since his fourth year.

"Dear Lord, how are we going to survive Whitlock's ego this year? He takes over the whole school slowly but surely... first Quidditch captain, now _Head Boy_!" sighed Rosalie. And it was not like Whitlock's ego wasn't already bigger than the solar system.

"Are you going to try out for the team?" Alice asked only out of consideration for her friend. Again, Quidditch didn't interest her in the slightest. That was probably why she was one of the only girls at school that didn’t completely adore Whitlock.

There was one universal truth even she could not deny: He was damn good at this sport.

Rosalie nodded. "But he's such a _bully_! He would probably let the team train every day if he could! "

Edward Masen leaned forward. "He just wants us to win. He wants the trophy. And to be honest, so do I. The extra training sessions are something you have to deal with if you want to be successful. Better do that than see the cup in the hands of the Slytherins!" He chimed in, in defence of his captain.

Everyone could only agree with him. It was no secret that Gryffindor and Slytherin were archenemies, not only but _especially_ when it came to Quidditch.

"It’s not like he hasn’t won the stupid trophy for the last three years," Bella rolled her eyes.

Alice didn’t listen anymore to Edward’s response and instead let her eyes wander through the Great Hall until they landed on the one person she wanted to see even less than Whitlock: James Lewis.

He was also watching her; with that same look, he’d been giving her for a long time now. Sort of longing, maybe even a bit hopeful. For a moment she glared at him, then turned away. Alice and her former best friend had been at odds ever since that awful incident two years ago.

_“I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her.”_

The memory was still painful. Alice's jaw clenched. She’d always thought it wouldn't bother him that she was muggle-born. At least it had never bothered him before.

Before they came to Hogwarts and – with the help of his Slytherin friends – James had turned into someone she didn't know. Someone she didn't want to know.

 _What happened to us, James_? The thought was as painful as the memories. She still felt his gaze on her. He’d asked for her forgiveness nearly every week since the incident. But, like Whitlock's eternal advances, she dismissed him every time.

Alice shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and turned her attention back to the conversation of her friends.

They were talking about the timetables now and Bella and Edward explained to Rosalie everything she had missed in the last three weeks. Alice listened for a while and then excused herself to start with her essay for Transfiguration, a subject she truly loathed. It was the only subject she struggled with, otherwise, her grades were excellent.

On the way to the Astronomy Tower, she ran into Benjamin Amun, one of the best-looking students in Hogwarts. They had a few classes together. Amun was also the captain of the Hufflepuff-Quidditch team. He gave her a beaming smile as she walked past him, which she returned with the same enthusiasm.

 _Maybe this year won't be that bad after all_ , Alice thought with a smile


	2. Talk in the Common Room

**~*~**

She had been working on her essay for just half an hour when the silver mermaid's portrait hole opened. Alice didn't even bother looking up from her parchment, knowing it could only be one person. No one but the Head Boy and Girl had access to these premises.

When she’d entered the Tower for the first time, it had taken her breath away. There were _definitely_ a couple of benefits to being Head Girl and Boy: They had their own cosy common room decorated this year in Gryffindor’s colours and Alice and Jasper each had their own separate bedroom. Unfortunately, they had to share the bathroom, which was probably the worst thing about the whole situation. 

“Brandon.”

Alice looked up from her parchment with the half-finished beginning of her essay.

Jasper Whitlock wore his Quidditch uniform, on which he had pinned both badges: Head Boy and Quidditch captain.

His honey-gold hair was completely messed up, as always. This was probably also due to the fact that Whitlock had the annoying habit of stroking through his hair at every opportunity. His golden eyes rested on her for a moment, and against her better instincts, she couldn’t help but think that he actually looked quite handsome right now.

Unfortunately, he was well aware of this, too.

"Whitlock," It came out disinterested and she was turning her gaze back to her parchment.

He made no move to go to his room. Alice realized that he was still standing there, looking at her.

After a few more seconds, she couldn't help herself and gave him an annoyed look. "Is there something I can help you with, _Whitlock_?"

Jasper grinned broadly, biting back a suggestive comment about all the things she could help him with.

But then again, he’d swore to himself not to get on Alice Brandon's nerves anymore. It was his last year here at Hogwarts. And he still hadn't gone out with her. This year was his last chance.

Jasper had no idea why he couldn’t just let this go. It was obvious to everyone – including him – that Alice couldn't stand him.

But he felt powerless about it: something about her fascinated him so immensely that it was impossible for him to just give up.

Even now, even though he had really planned to forget her, he couldn't help but stare at her like a fool. She was so beautiful like this, bent over the desk, glaring at him with her nose in her homework, that tiny splash of ink on her nose. Jasper suppressed the desire to walk over and wipe it away with his thumb.

If she had glasses, she would have been looking over them sceptically, silently judging him.

He knew he had to move on, he had to at least try to let her go.

Alice appeared to have noticed that her previous words would give him the opportunity for an inappropriate joke. " _I mean, what's going on?"_

Whitlock simply grinned wider. Alice felt her cheeks turn slightly red. Merlin’s Beard; he was so annoying.

"Haven't you forgotten something, Brandon?" He tried to make it sound as friendly as possible.

The dark-haired Head Girl stared at him in horror. Had she forgotten anything? Was there some event she’d missed? Had she perhaps forgotten one of Professor Slughorn's parties? Or the deadline for a homework assignment? Her mind was blank.

" _What_?" She was panicking.

Jasper sighed quietly. He’d almost forgotten how responsible she was. Almost.

Why was it so hard to forget her?

People always told him these things got easier with time, but with Alice, it had only gotten harder every year. And now, the universe had decided to punish him even more: he was living here in the tower _with her_. Just a few meters away from her. So close and yet he couldn’t be further away from her. How was he going to survive this for a year?

Additionally, they had to patrol the school, go to the Prefect meetings, choose passwords for the houses. All of it together.

Was it some kind of sick joke from Dumbledore to make them Head Boy and Head Girl, just when Jasper finally got ready to banish Alice Brandon from his head forever?

"Claws, Moony, and Wormtail wanted to come over today and I’d asked you to study at the library today for once?" _For once_ , he thought sarcastically.

Normally, Brandon could _always_ be found in the library. But right now, he didn't want to upset her, and Brandon had a habit of jumping down his throat at every little word he said to her. In the past, she had even hexed him a couple of times, but that – thankfully – hadn’t happened for a while now.

He was grateful for it because, despite her tiny size, she was quite powerful and extraordinarily creative with her spells.

Jasper shook his head slightly to get rid of the thought and looked at her again. For a short moment, they were staring at each other, then she looked away.

Alice began to pack up her stuff.

"I _had_ actually forgotten that. I'll finish writing it in my room."

Jasper would have liked it better if she had gone to the library. Not because he didn’t enjoy having her close to him, but because the topics he wanted to discuss with his friends today were not meant for her ears. But he knew that with Alice, he could not push any further or he would most likely regret it. So, he just nodded.

Alice had already walked halfway to her room, her arms full of textbooks, feather keels, and parchments when she heard his voice again. "Brandon!"

She turned around to find that Whitlock had followed her, a crooked smile on his face.

_Here we go_ , she thought. Now he’ll ask me to go out with him again.

She knew this look well. As always, he looked outrageously attractive when he smiled at her like this. She was sure that other girls would melt away if Jasper Whitlock ever gave them this look, but Alice knew better. _He's an arrogant toad_ , she recalled.

Unnerved, she looked at him, her eyebrow raised. "What?"

It sounded even sharper than she had intended.

Jasper grinned. He knew precisely what she was thinking: that he’d ask her to go out with him. Last year or the year before that, he would’ve. But he was trying to change his ways, to forget her.

"You forgot your essay," He was smiling almost smugly, holding up the piece of parchment.

Alice was nonplussed for a whole second, completely taken aback. Jasper bit back his laugh. Laughing at Alice Brandon would not be a wise decision.

Then Alice’s face turned bright red, she muttered an almost inaudible ‘thank you’ in his general direction and practically ripped the parchment out of his hand. Two seconds later, she had already disappeared behind her door.

Jasper shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. It was really time for him to move on and leave his obsession with Alice Brandon in the past.

He realized he still had a bit of time on his hands before his friends would show up here. Maybe he should stop by the Gryffindor common room to see if Maria De Luz happened to be there. Jasper could definitely use a little distraction.

_I’m not going to spend this year running after Alice Brandon_ , he decided while he climbed down the steps of the tower.

_**~*~** _

Watching with growing annoyance as Whitlock was shamelessly flirting with Maria De Luz in a dark corner of the Gryffindor common room, Rosalie wondered, not for the first time, what all the girls actually saw in him.

Sure, he was pretty damn hot, incredibly good at playing Quidditch, and had excellent grades in school, but at the same time, he was so _full of himself_ that she wanted to throw up in her mouth during most of her conversations.

She looked away when De Luz leaned over him (she was practically sitting in his lap now) and whispered something in his ear that seemed to please him. For some reason, it bothered her, that Jasper – who’d always had a thing for her best friend – was flirting with someone else, despite the fact that Rosalie was well aware Alice wasn’t interested in him.

It also bothered her that it was Maria De Luz. She was… sexy, was the only way Rose could describe her.

Rosalie knew that she herself was not the innocence in person. She had slept with her fair share of boys since losing her virginity at the age of fifteen and wasn’t shy about it either. The blond girl knew exactly how gorgeous she was, and she’d always liked to be admired.

"Well, Rose. Look who’s finally decided to show up to the beginning of the new school year." A familiar voice breathed into her ear, ripping her out of her thoughts.

She turned her head and looked directly into the eyes of an amused Emmett McCarty. He stalked around her and dropped onto the armchair opposite without ever breaking eye contact.

Rosalie raised an eyebrow. McCarty and she had a kind of love-hate relationship going on, although neither of them would ever admit out loud that “love” was in fact involved in any kind of way in the way they felt about each other.

"Didn't look like you missed me, McCarty," she replied dryly. "Not a word of you all summer and now you don’t have anything better to say?”

That seemed to amuse him. This time, it was he who raised his eyebrow and grinned brightly. "Upset, Hale? If you need someone to help you let off some steam, I’m happy to oblige.”

She moaned and dropped her head against the back of the armchair in exasperation. "Isn't there anyone else around here for you to harass? Have your beloved friends left you?"

It was true that Emmett was seldomly wandering school grounds on his own. Emmett McCarty, Jasper Whitlock, Seth Clearwater, and Ben Cheney, also known as the Marauders, were inseparable.

Whitlock and McCarty were the best of friends and undoubtedly the most popular boys at Hogwarts. With their stunning looks and intelligence, they ruled the school. Everyone loved them, boys looked up to them, hoping to befriend them or aspired to be them, while the girls were drooling after them, hoping for Jasper and Emmett to notice them.

Seth and Ben didn't quite fit into the group. Seth Clearwater was a sickly-looking but very nice, sensible boy, who was appointed Prefect in their fifth year.

Rosalie secretly suspected that Dumbledore had planned for Clearwater to tame his more popular friends Whitlock and McCarty. However, he mostly stayed out of their affairs, so that plan didn’t really work out. Lacking the skills and good looks of his friends, he was more modest and kinder than Jasper or Emmett and therefore a lot less insufferable. Alice and Seth had become friends some time ago, so Rosalie had actually gotten to know and like the boy a lot.

How Ben Cheney made it into the group was still a mystery to Rosalie. Cheney seemed to be the complete opposite of Whitlock and McCarty. He was neither particularly smart nor good-looking. Small, chubby, with mouse-grey hair and a crooked nose, he was the farthest thing from a guy that girls would have a crush on. 

He didn't play Quidditch like Jasper and Emmett, nor was he a Prefect like Seth. He was just... there, tagging along. He had a sort of hero-worship for McCarty and Whitlock no matter what they did and kissed the ground they walked on. And they _actually_ were friends with him.

Becoming friends with Whitlock and McCarty was probably the best thing that could have happened to Ben Cheney, Rosalie suspected. That friendship gave him a certain status that protected him from bullies, who would have otherwise targeted him.

McCarty clicked his tongue and Rosalie's returned her attention to him.

His appearance was the exact opposite in every way of Cheney or Wormtail as they called him. Emmett’s curly black hair fell very elegantly in his face, his facial features were soft and yet so strikingly … _male_ and he had an excellent physique. He looked a lot older than he really was, in a sexy kind of way. Rosalie wasn’t the only girl who sometimes found herself staring way too long at his defined muscles. 

In conclusion, he was probably the best-looking guy in Hogwarts. At least in Rosalie’s opinion, even though she would never tell him that.

McCarty's grey eyes met Rosalie's and she couldn't help admitting to herself that she had actually missed him this summer. _Even though he was probably busy getting as many girls as possible into bed,_ she thought bitterly.

"You are right in fact, they have.” Emmett was still grinning widely. “Mane is far too busy getting into Maria De Luz’s panties, Moony is at the library – because where else would he be - and Wormtail naps over there and snores like a troll.” He pointed at another table nearby, but Rosalie didn’t bother to look. She had no interest in watching Cheney drool on a table.

“You see, you are my only victim. But a very attractive one, gorgeous." With those words, he winked at her. Rosalie was not impressed.

"Stop flirting with me, McCarty. _Nothing_ will happen between us this year." 

McCarty watched her for a moment, playing offended. "But, Rose. Are you breaking up with me?" He pressed his hand over his heart as if the thought alone would cause him emotional distress.

The blonde gave him a cool look. She was fed up with him. He could never be serious about anything.

"That would imply that we were ever together, McCarty. And as far as I can remember, that's not the case.”

"So, what about what happened between us two years ago? Have you forgotten about that?" Emmett was still looking at her with the same fake-despaired look. The corners of his mouth, however, were twisting slightly.

"Forgotten? No, I haven't forgotten how we almost got together in our fifth year here. That is if you hadn't immediately slept with Lauren Mallory as soon as things got a little more serious between us." Rosalie was fairly impressed at herself when she succeeded in producing this sentence without any bitterness.

Emmett actually looked _slightly_ embarrassed for once. 

"Yes, it was an unfortunate story, baby," he admitted. The blonde would not give him the satisfaction of confessing just how unfortunate this story had really been for her.

Not even Alice knew that Rosalie had been in love with Emmett for a while, had lost her virginity to him, and had secretly only wanted to be with him ever since. All the other guys she’d been with had just been distractions.

She had no idea if Emmett had ever talked to his best friends about it, but honestly, she couldn't imagine it. While it wasn’t exactly a secret that Rosalie and Emmett had a thing going on, she was quite sure nobody had any idea how serious the whole thing really was. Well, at least for her.

Emmett hesitated for a moment, before continuing. "And, are you still after Craig Miller, or have you already found someone new in the three hours you've been here?"

Rosalie wasn’t sure if he sounded jealous or indifferent.

They had a strange relationship. Neither of them liked to see the other with someone else, but they were not together, had never been together. Some days they flirted heavily, made out, and almost always ended up sleeping together. On other days they couldn’t stand the sight of each other, screaming and throwing things at the other person.

Rosalie couldn’t even remember how long their relationship had been this way. But this year, it was going to change.

"Miller!", she snorted contemptuously. She had been seeing him at the end of last year for about two weeks before the summer break. It had been a mistake she didn’t intend to repeat. He was far too affectionate and clingy for her taste.

"Not interested.” Rosalie made her voice sound as haughtily as possible. “Last summer I had a fling with a twenty-five-year-old wizard who works at Broomstix in Diagon Alley. It was so _refreshing_! I think I've had enough of the foolish, immature idiots here."

With those words, she whipped her hair around, got up, and left McCarty standing. Passing the corner where Jasper and Maria were now fully making out, she made her way to her dormitory.

_These damned, egocentric, idiotic marauders,_ Rosalie cursed in her head. Damn them all.

_Not this year, she thought_. _This year I'm staying away from McCarty, the asshole._


	3. An Apology

_**~*~** _

_**2.** _

_Friday, September 23, 1977_

The first thing Minerva McGonagall noticed, was how tired they looked. McCarty and Cheney und Whitlock. But above all Clearwater. Merlin’s Beard, the boy always looked tired. When she once mentioned this fact to Dumbledore, he had just smiled knowingly and told her that this was not uncommon among young people.

But she knew there was something wrong. Nevertheless, it wasn’t her place to ask what was going on with the boy, because _clearly_ , the headmaster knew and had decided not to tell her about it. And she trusted him.

For a moment, her eyes rested on Clearwater, who focused very hard on the floor in front of him, before turning to the next in line: "Mr. McCarty, would you care to explain to me what in the world you and your friends are doing in the school corridors at six o'clock in the morning, especially since none of you appears to have slept in their dormitory tonight?"

Emmett held her gaze steadily, looking like he was on the brink of laughter. McGonagall had always known he was a troublemaker, along with Jasper Whitlock. And this was by no means the first time that she had caught the group of boys sneaking around the castle at night.

"I got hungry, Professor, and I thought, I'll have a look around the kitchens to find something to eat, but then Jasper said he was also hungry and-"

"That's enough!" she cut him off. "So, you expect me to believe that the four of you were on your way to the kitchens?"

The four nodded in unison.

McGonagall sighed deeply. "Detention, all of you. You will support Mr. Filch every Saturday night cleaning the bathrooms for the next five weeks.” The boys groaned in irritation.

“I’m not done. In addition, each of you will get ten points deducted from Gryffindor. I hope I don't have to tell you _again_ how disappointed I am with you because it didn’t seem to work the last twenty times I caught you out of bed in the middle of the night.”

Clearwater and Cheney actually managed to look guilty, while Whitlock and McCarty were seemingly unbothered. They were certainly used to this form of punishment.

This did not surprise the Head of Gryffindor House in the slightest. She still wondered what came over Dumbledore when he made Whitlock Head Boy of the school this year. Especially when it was fairly obvious that Head Girl Alice Brandon seemed to feel a strong dislike for him. _It wouldn't surprise Minerva if that actually_ _was_ _the reason why the headmaster had chosen Whitlock. His decisions often seemed to be quite insane in her opinion._

"You may now go back to your dormitories," McGonagall concluded her punishment. When the four Marauders started to make their way to the exit, however, she changed her mind and called: "Mr. Whitlock!"

All of them turned around and McGonagall almost rolled her eyes. Of course. Thick as thieves those ones.

The addressee answered with a polite tone: "Yes, Professor?"

"I would like to exchange a word with you, alone."

Jasper wondered what he’d done this time. He knew this tone too well; he had heard it hundreds of times since he started to go to Hogwarts.

He sighed internally, preparing himself mentally, and stepped back into the Head of House’s office. Emmett cast a questioning glance at him, and Jasper nodded at him. He could handle it.

As his friends closed the door behind them, McGonagall continued, "Mr. Whitlock, I really would have expected you to be more responsible this year. Professor Dumbledore has appointed you as Head Boy and I know I am not the only one who wonders why he made this decision."

For one moment, Jasper opened his mouth to protest. He wanted to tell her that he actually was making an effort to behave more responsibly. But then he remembered he couldn’t tell her a damn thing, because she had caught him sneaking around in the castle and also because it wasn’t his story to tell.

McGonagall looked at him sharply for a moment. Jasper closed his mouth again, biting his bottom lip angrily.

She continued "For the last three weeks, you and your friends have not been in any trouble and I actually had the hope that you’d finally seen sense... and now I find you sneaking around the school, as usual. You’re setting a really bad example for your fellow students.”

Jasper stared at the floor just as hard as Moony had a few minutes ago, clenching his jaw, trying to hold back the words he wanted to say. Normally, he couldn't care less what a role model he set. But he was trying this year.

Then again, obviously he couldn't tell McGonagall why she had found them sneaking around, despite the fact that it had been on the best of intentions. But since Minerva McGonagall had no idea that one of his best friends was a werewolf, this statement probably wouldn't provoke a joyful reaction from her. So, he just continued to stare at the floor and said nothing.

“I was really hoping Miss Brandon would be a good influence on you. She appears to take the job much more seriously than you.”

When Alice's name was mentioned, Jasper looked up again. Yes, he didn’t need to be reminded that Alice was much better suited for the job than he was.

“I will give her the opportunity, Mr. Whitlock, because from now on you will assist Miss Brandon with her tutoring every Wednesday night.”

Jasper stared at her incredulously. He hadn’t even known Alice was tutoring... but there was another problem.

"But, Professor! On Wednesdays, we have Quidditch training!" Not that he would ever miss an opportunity to spend time with Brandon, but this training was important!

McGonagall considered this for a moment. "Well, well, Whitlock. Merlin knows I want to see that trophy back in my office."

She took a look at the glass cabinet displaying the Quidditch Cup behind him. Engraved on it was the word Gryffindor three times for the last three years. Minerva sighed. Whitlock might be a troublemaker, but he was a very successful player and a good, strict captain of their team. And for that, she appreciated him.

"You can keep the training sessions Wednesday night."

Jasper exhaled with relief.

"Instead, you will be responsible for the tutoring every Saturday afternoon starting next week, instead of the detention with your friends. I will speak to Miss Brandon; I am sure it will be possible to move her tutoring lessons from Wednesday to Saturday.”

Jasper’s relief was instantly shattered. “But, Professor… Al-… Brandon will absolutely rip me apart for…”, he stammered.

“You may go now.” McGonagall interrupted sharply in a tone that stated very clearly that the conversation was over.

"Yes, Professor," Jasper replied, realizing there was no point in negotiating with her. He left her office quietly, his thoughts drifting off in a million different directions.

Instead of detention with Filch cleaning bathrooms, he got tutoring with Brandon – that didn't sound so bad. Actually it sounded kind of nice... or it would, if he wasn’t firstly, trying to forget her and secondly, knew she would despise him for ruining her Saturday Nights from now on.

She was going to be pissed.

__

_**~*~** _

"You have _what_ _?"_

Alice couldn't believe what she was hearing. This had to be a bad joke, another one of his pranks. By no means had McGonagall really said that... she _refused_ to believe her Professor could be so cruel.

Whitlock's face was the incarnation of innocence, but she was well aware that he had perfected that look over the years.

Jasper had decided to get it over with and tell her before McGonagall could talk to her at breakfast or in the school corridors. That is why he had been waiting in their common room until she was finished getting ready and informed her of the result of his earlier conversation with the Head of the House. Her reaction was exactly as he had expected: _not good._

“We will be tutoring together every Saturday afternoon starting next week," Jasper said, with a special emphasis on the word "we." He shouldn’t have done that. It made the whole thing even worse.

Alice looked like she'd like to throw something at his head. As a precautionary measure, he took a step back, even though his good reflexes as a Chaser would probably save him anyway.

"I can't believe it _, Whitlock_! _You_ screw up and _I_ have to pay for it? After all, this is going to be a lot more unpleasant for me than it’s going to be for you! Besides, Saturday is the only damn day I actually have time to do _something fun_ , like spend time with my friends! I _bet_ you did this on purpose! Surely you asked McGonagall for _this_ punishment! Damn, will you ever grow up?"

As Jasper had expected, she was furious. He instinctively ducked his head at her flood of accusations.

 _So much for good intentions_ , he thought. Even though Jasper didn’t feel guilty about helping his friend, it annoyed him that everyone seemed to think he was a failure as Head Boy and that he was incapable of being responsible, first McGonagall and now Alice _._

It felt completely unjustified to him: He’d only been helping his friend. But just like McGonagall, he couldn’t tell Alice the truth.

"Alice, I had a very good reason to do what I did and you would understand if I _could_ tell you about it!" the Hogwarts Head Boy defended himself.

Alice gave him a strange look.

Did he just call her Alice? That almost never happened. Normally, he’d only ever used her last name. Then again, it wasn’t like that really mattered.

"Oh, _really_? And why can't you tell me?" she hissed angrily. Alice thought that she at least deserved the truth. After all, she was going to have to spend an awful lot of time with him over the next couple of weeks. Internally, she groaned. Even more time with Whitlock. As if being stuck with him in this tower wasn’t bad enough.

"Because I promised it to a friend.", Jasper said defensively.

Alice snorted contemptuously. "You mean one of your Marauders. You probably promised Emmett to organize some prank with him and you couldn't let him down. How _classy."_ Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "You should be really more _responsible!"_

She glared at him and immediately realized she had better not said that. He suddenly looked _really_ angry, which was something she wasn’t used to. Insults usually just bounced off him when she threw them around, but he looked different this time. Genuinely… hurt, she thought.

And yet, she was still mad at him.

As a protective reaction, she crossed her arms and put on a dismissive face, although she would have preferred to apologize immediately.

Hold on, what? Apologized? To Jasper Whitlock? Alice was beginning to think that she was about to slowly but surely lose her mind.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Jasper’s voice was icy and Alice swallowed. He had never spoken to her like that before, not once. Not when she had turned him down for the millionth time, nor when she had hexed him. This time she had really crossed a line.

"Jasper-...," she began, but he just hissed a "Leave me the fuck alone, Brandon" through his teeth and pushed past her through the portrait hole. Alice flinched as the portrait slammed hard against the stone wall.

She was shocked _._ When exactly did she become the bad guy? Surely it was Jasper who had caused this situation? She glanced at the portrait hole through which he had disappeared a few moments ago.

They had gotten along so well for the past three weeks, unusually so. When they’d seen each other again on platform Nine and Three-Quarters three weeks ago for the first time in two months, he had been very polite.

 _"Why doesn't this surprise me?"_ he had said with a crooked grin and pointed to her Head Girl badge. Alice had also smiled, something she normally didn't do too often in Whitlock's presence.

And when she’d found out that he was in fact Head Boy – not even from himself, he hadn't mentioned it at all, hadn’t tried to show off with it – she had feared the worst for a moment. But during the last three weeks, Jasper had done nothing to piss her off, annoy or bother her in any way.

He’d even respected her privacy, given her enough time in the bathroom in the morning, had always knocked on the door before he entered the common room, and hadn’t tried to make conversation with her when she was trying to study.

But most importantly, Whitlock hadn't asked her out on a date _once_. And that was, considering this was Whitlock she was thinking about, a great achievement.

She had also noticed that he wasn't talking back at teachers during the few classes they had together. He had made no comments on what an excellent Quidditch player he was. No innocent first-graders had been hexed by him just because he could. Alice had to admit he had really pulled himself together these last few weeks.

And now this whole fiasco. He’d relapsed into his old behaviour and had pulled her into his mess. But even though she tried to be angry at him for ruining her free time on Saturdays, she couldn’t help but remember the look on his face when he’d told her that she would understand if he told her the reason for his stroll around the castle. He’d looked like he meant it and she’d believed him.

She could actually _like_ this version of Jasper Whitlock, Alice realized. The one where he wasn’t an arrogant asshole but was actually _trying_.

But of course, _this_ Jasper Whitlock was furious with her right now and she didn't even understand exactly what it was all about. In her head, she revisited the conversation and once again came to the conclusion that it had been something she’d said about him being irresponsible.

Maybe she should apologize, she considered. They were, after all, Head Girl and Head Boy and would have to spend a lot of time together this year. She decided to find him later and talk to him.

_**~*~** _

****

Jasper furiously rushed down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower. Maybe he was overreacting but at that moment he couldn’t get himself to care. How dare she doubt his loyalty to his friends? She might be Alice Brandon, the girl he’d had a crush on since he knew what girls were, but that didn’t mean he’d easily forgive her for this.

 _"You should really be more responsible!"_ Her voice echoed in his head as he reached the end of the stairs and pushed two short Hufflepuffs out of the way. What the hell did she think he had been trying to be, this past couple of weeks, if not _responsible_?

Jasper was also convinced that what he and the others did for Moony was in fact _very_ responsible. How they were helping him through the hardest of times each month, while also ensuring no one came close to Seth whenever he turned into a giant werewolf, ready to rip people apart.

Jasper had even saved her - oh so great - best friend James from either being killed or turned into a werewolf himself. But well, Alice probably didn't know about that, and Lewis was convinced anyway that Jasper had only done it to save his own skin.

Ungrateful bastard, Jasper thought bitterly. What he’d given to be as close to Alice as James had been, and then he’d gone and ruined it all. What a fool. He couldn’t even feel sorry for the other boy considering that level of stupidity.

Of course, Jasper also knew that the original reason why Alice Brandon had always disliked him so much, had been his behaviour towards James. She had always hated the “pranks” he and Emmett had played on “poor” James and how they had duelled over and over again. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it - he despised James Lewis.

And Jasper knew that the feeling was mutual.

And the way James was staring at Alice when she wasn’t paying attention, didn’t help in the matter. He’d always thought the guy was kind of creepy in his obsession with her.

Sometimes Jasper thought that one of the reasons why Alice hated him, was because he ruined her chances of going out with other guys.

Mostly it didn’t even happen intentionally, except for that one time where he and Emmett had deliberately threatened to hex poor Mike Newton if he’d dare to ask her out. But he’d been thirteen and stupid at the time, so he could hardly be blamed for that.

For most of the boys at Hogwarts, however, knowing that Jasper Whitlock was interested in Alice Brandon was enough motivation to stay as far away from her as humanly possible.

Jasper knew he was one of the best-looking guys at this school.

He knew that he was talented in so many different ways, that he had good grades in almost every subject, that he was brilliant at Quidditch.

He also knew that most of the other boys at their school were jealous of him. Jasper was aware that almost every girl in Hogwarts wanted to go out with him.

That's why it made sense to him that the vast majority of guys who were interested in Alice Brandon, didn't want to cross paths with him. That they might even think they never stood a chance with her if she didn’t even want to go out with _him_.

And of course, some bold individuals _had_ asked her out despite all this over the years.

And Brandon, without any hesitation, had said _yes_ to all of them. She’d even dated a few of these guys for longer periods of time. There had been times where _Jasper Whitlock_ , who had the whole school at his feet, had been jealous of other boys.

At this moment, however, he wondered why he had even bothered to ask Brandon for just _one_ date, let alone hundreds. It didn’t seem to matter to her what he did or didn’t do. He’d always just be _irresponsible_ in her eyes.

It wasn't until he came to a stop on the sixth floor in front of the tapestry next to the portrait of Godric Gryffindor that he realized that he had no idea where he was going.

Originally, his plan had been to visit the Gryffindor common room and see Emmett, to complain about Brandon, but obviously he had strayed from that plan somewhere along the way.

Unnerved by Brandon and himself, he drove through his golden hair and pushed the tapestry to one side.

Behind it stood a young couple from Ravenclaw, making out passionately. When they noticed him, they jumped apart in shock and he recognized Davina Peters and Finnegan Kent, who were a year below him.

"Sorry," he muttered half-heartedly, pushing past the two.

The annoyed look Kent gave him, and Davina’s silly giggling as he left the hidden corridor behind didn’t escape his notice. Davina was one of the girls that always turned bright red during every conversation with Jasper – which admittedly were rare – and could barely get a word out. It was obvious that she would have picked him over Kent at any time. Which girl wouldn't have? He was Jasper Whitlock after all.

 _Alice Brandon wouldn't have_ , a quiet voice in his head said mockingly. Why did Brandon always have to be the exception for everything, Jasper wondered.

It was impossible to have everything, he reminded himself. He should just go back to his original plan of moving on from his feelings for her.

Ten minutes later, he reached the Great Hall and took his usual seat next to Emmett. Seth, sitting opposite from him, looked much better than he had those last few days.

Of course, he did, Jasper thought sarcastically. Full moon was over after all.

They all looked pretty damn tired, Ben seemed to fall asleep over his porridge, Emmett had put his knife in his pumpkin juice instead of the butter, and Seth was just staring apathetically past everyone at the wall of the Great Hall. Although Jasper didn't feel any better, he could hardly bear this silence.

"Don’t you all just look like shit," he commented dryly. That woke them up a little.

"You don’t look any better Mane, so shut the fuck up," Emmett hissed, before taking his knife out of his glass and drying it off with his robes. Seth was watching him, his face twisted with disgust, and then turned to Jasper:

"And? How did Alice handle the news of the extra dose of Whitlock she’ll be getting these next few weeks?"

"What do you think?", Jasper muttered with little enthusiasm. Seth cast a pitying glance at him. "She was extremely pissed and accused me of being _irresponsible!"_

His anger returning, he stared holes into the desk, waiting for some form of encouragement, but none of his friends made any attempt to contribute anything to the conversation.

"Great, thanks for your support, assholes." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Seth looked at him sceptically, shrugging. "Well, I can't say I blame her. Sometimes you can be a bit irresponsible, Mane."

And when he saw the deadly look that Jasper threw at him, he quickly added: "It's improved a lot lately, though!"

Jasper rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his toast. After a long moment of silence, suddenly a shrill voice screamed "Emmett, baby!" behind them.

Emmett and Jasper stared at each other incredulously and turned around to identify the source of the disturbance. As it turned out, it was Jessica Stanley, walking towards them.

She was a blond girl from Hufflepuff, who had once gone out with former Hufflepuff Quidditch captain Smith before he’d dumped her. A few months ago she had been after Jasper, but he hadn’t been into her at all. She was way too annoying.

Apparently, she had now found a new target.

The Quidditch captain of Gryffindor cast an incredulous glance at his best friend that basically seemed to say: Her? Really _?_

Emmett shrugged and pulled his latest flame onto his lap. 

"Hey, Jasper," Her tone was entirely too enthusiastic for someone sitting on his best friend's lap. She completely ignored Seth and Ben, as if they were not present at all.

Jasper didn't pay any attention to her. Instead, his eyes searched the Great Hall for something interesting, trying desperately to ignore the fact that Emmett and Jess had started sticking their tongues down each other's throats.

At the Slytherin table, his eyes met James Lewis’, who was glaring at him as if he were scum. Jasper knew that his own expression probably didn’t look any different. After a brief moment, James broke eye contact and looked at the entrance of the Great Hall instead.

Jasper involuntarily followed his gaze and watched as - he should have known - Alice entered the hall, along with Benjamin Amun, the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. She was laughing at something he must’ve said and brushed a strand of hair out of her face as if she was nervous.

Jasper’s eyes narrowed.

Ben saw it too. "They look pretty close, right?" When he met Seth and Jasper's eyes, he shrugged and instinctively ducked his head. "What, I mean… of course, she’s not… _into_ him."

Jasper put down his mug a little too loudly on the table. "Just to inform you officially: I don't give a fuck who Brandon is _close_ with, you get that?"

The two others looked at him rather sceptically and he rolled his eyes.

"I _don't_ care," Jasper repeated, unconvincingly, because at that moment Amun touched Alice’s arm gently and Jasper made a face as if he’d eaten Flobberworms on his toast.

He’d never liked Amun, that pretentious asshole. He vowed to throw him off his broom during the next match against Hufflepuff.

Meanwhile, Alice said goodbye to Benjamin, smiling. He was waving at her briefly before heading to his seat at the Hufflepuff table. For a moment, she looked after him dreamily. Earlier, she had thought the day couldn't get any worse, but when Benjamin had caught up with her just in front of the Great Hall and had asked her if she would like to go to Hogsmeade with him the second weekend in October in two weeks, it had suddenly improved.

Still smiling, she sat down next to Bella at the table. She noticed that neither Edward nor Rosalie were anywhere in sight. Her eyes searched the table for the two and met Whitlock's for a brief moment. Her heart sank instantly when she realized he still looked quite angry. But then he had already looked away. Why are you so angry with me, she wanted to scream at him, knowing it probably wouldn’t improve the situation.

"How's it going, Alice?" quipped Bella, who was apparently in a good mood. When she saw Alice's facial expression, her grin immediately turned into a worried expression. "What's going on?"

"Whitlock is pissed. I think I really got under his skin earlier… I may have gone too far." Alice sighed, and Bella’s eyebrow shot up.

"I didn't even know that you knew how to use the words "Whitlock" and _“gone too far_ ” in that context."

Alice explained to her what had happened between them this morning and Bella looked at her sympathetically.

Secretly, Bella wasn’t surprised.

Everyone had known something like this was bound to happen between the Head Girl and the Head Boy of their school eventually, with them being forced to spend so much time together during their last year at school.

The two girls went on talking about Whitlock and his (or rather _her_ ) punishment for a while before Alice returned to the more pleasant topic of Benjamin Amun. The brunette was utterly perplexed.

"He asked you out on a _date?"_ She shook her head in disbelief. "God, Alice. You are probably the luckiest witch on earth. Two of the hottest guys in the school are into you and want to go out with you! If I didn't have Edward, I'd envy you, honestly!"

The two laughed, mainly because it was simply absurd to imagine Bella without Edward. They had been together for four years without interruption and were still very happy. Some people just belonged together, Alice thought.

"There's nothing to envy, really.” Alice waved off. "Whitlock is an idiot and Benjamin... Well, I’m not even sure if he really likes me.'

"Oh, we’re already back at "Whitlock is an idiot"? I thought you’d said he was behaving so much better this year? Also, it’s kind of obvious that Benjamin likes you, Ali. He definitely does and _has_ , ever since last year when you guys had Potions together."

Alice felt slightly flustered, talking about this with her friend.

"Yes, well, you're right, I'm unfair. From now on, I vow to give Whitlock a chance to prove that he’s changed. It's just not that easy to forget the past, you know?"

Bella nodded compassionately.

"I also think I really have to apologize... he’s quite angry with me." Alice sighed. She’d never said anything like that out loud before, so apparently something actually _had_ changed in their dynamic.

"Where is Rosalie?" She changed the subject to something less annoying. Bella shrugged.

“I have no idea; she wasn’t in our dormitory this morning.”

And as Alice raised her eyebrows, the other witch added: 'You know what she's like. Apparently, she made out with Eric Yorkie in the Ravenclaw common room last night."

Alice knew him.

"That didn’t take long," she muttered in her non-existent beard. "She only got here yesterday-..."

"I think she had an unpleasant encounter with Emmett last night," Bella defended her absent friend.

Alice glanced at her, now worried. Conversations between Emmett and Rosalie could usually always end in two possible ways: Either in bed (sometimes also a broom chamber) or with a screaming match, banging doors, and insults.

And since Emmett _was_ actually sitting at the breakfast table with a hot dark brown-haired girl on his lap, it could only be the latter.

"Maybe we should check up on her?"

Now that Alice knew what had happened, she was worried about her friend, but Bella waved off. 'Rose is going to show up. She just needs to cool off, probably..."

"Yes, and shagging some random guy is the way to do it, right?” Alice’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. She had never made a secret out of the fact that she did not agree with some of Rosalie’s choices.

"Everyone has their own way of dealing with these situations, Alice.", replied ever-positive Bella.

"I know. But imagine if I slept with someone every time I had an argument with Whitlock! Surely, I’d have had sex with every single guy at Hogwarts by now!" said Alice, still frustrated.

Now Bella looked pretty suspicious. 'You can't compare that. Rosalie _loves_ Emmett, Alice. Unless I’ve missed something, and you would like to tell me about your feelings for Whitlock?”

She raised her eyebrows suggestively, now grinning.

Alice turned bright red on the spot. She hadn’t meant _that_. God, what was going on with her today? How did the Whitlock topic come up _again?_

"No! Of course not!"

Bella didn't seem convinced at all.

Thank God she was distracted from this unpleasant situation when Rosalie appeared at the entrance of the Great Hall. Without Eric Yorkie, fortunately.

The blonde’s eyes flew through the Hall and finally landed on the Marauders. They narrowed for a second when she saw Jessica sitting on Emmett’s lap, then she put on a neutral expression. She also saw that Alice was looking at her and smiled at her, signalling she would come over to their table in a moment.

Then she walked towards the Marauders. 

Alice's eyes widened and she pulled Bella’s robes in shock.

"What's the-...," the brown-haired girl began, but followed Alice's gaze and immediately locked as shocked as the Head Girl. "What the _hell_ is she going to do?"

Alice had no idea. Rosalie wouldn’t actually make a scene because of Jessica, would she?

It wasn’t like her at all. After all, Rose always insisted that McCarty didn't care about her and that she herself couldn't care less about his many conquests. 

Alice knew, of course, that this was a lie. She was well aware that her friend was in love with McCarty and that he must feel something for her, too. Otherwise, why would they always end up sleeping together in the end?

While the two girls watched as Rosalie approached the table, the first Marauder also noticed the potential threat. Ben Cheney seemed utterly horrified and exhaled sharply, which caused Jasper Whitlock and Seth Clearwater to look up from their breakfast.

Rosalie had now reached them and put on a rather fake smile. Jasper noticed immediately that her fists were clenched, and her entire body language was more than tense. He could only hope that his best friend came out of this situation alive. Emmet hadn't even noticed Rosalie; he was still too busy shoving his tongue down Jessica Stanley’s throat.

Jasper kicked his leg under the table, but it wouldn’t have been necessary, because Rosalie was skilfully ignoring Emmett anyway.

"Hey, Jasper," she said, still wearing that big fake smile on her face, and he couldn't help but stare at her incredulously.

He could count all the times she’d spoken to him on one hand, and mostly it had been to scream at him for something he’d said to Brandon. 

Emmett had finally decided to pull away from Jess – whether due to Jasper’s kick or the sound of Rosalie's voice was unclear – and stared at his on-off flame with his mouth hanging wide open.

She still didn't pay any attention to him and was only looking at Jasper.

Jasper was still confused but greeted her with a normal tone. "What's up?"

Emmett looked as if was also more than interested in that question.

"I wanted to ask if you've already set a date for the Quidditch try-outs?", Rosalie asked sweetly.

Jasper could have sworn that Emmett relaxed visibly beside him at these words. He himself could also not hide his relief. Rosalie Hale, as pretty as she might be, was still Alice Brandon's best friend and therefore absolutely not a girl he ever wanted to flirt with.

Also, Emmett would probably kill him if he even dared consider Rosalie that way.

"Quidditch try-outs, right.” Jasper ran his hands through his hair, unsure for a moment.

He hadn’t set a date yet but realized now it had to be soon. Try-outs had always been the most annoying thing about being Quidditch captain.

But they were unavoidable, so he replied, thinking about it for a second: "We don’t have classes next Thursday, so let’s say… eh, five pm. at the Quidditch Pitch?"

Rosalie seemed happy with that. "Thank you, _Jasper_." She put a special emphasis on his name. "I’ll see you then."

With one last smile – at Jasper; she was still purposely ignoring Emmett and the other two – she whipped her gorgeous blond hair around and walked down the table until she reached her usual seat next to Alice and Bella. The four boys and Jessica stared after her in confusion.

"Um... what just _happened_?" Seth murmured after a moment of silence.

Emmett looked the most bewildered. "She completely _ignored_ me; did you see that?" His voice sounded outraged.

Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Are you really that surprised?" He threw a side glance at Jessica.

She looked more than irritated now.

"I thought you two weren’t dating?” She hissed at the black-haired Marauder acrimoniously.

Ben winced at that and Jasper had to bite back his laugh.

"Hale wants to try out for the team?" Seth, considerate as always, immediately changed the subject. None of them was eager to witness one of Emmett's girl dramas at the breakfast table.

"No idea. I didn't even know she played Quidditch.' Jasper shrugged.

'She plays damn well. She could become our new Seeker," Emmett chimed in, completely ignoring the girl on his lap. His voice sounded almost awestruck.

Now everyone was staring at him.

"What?" he defended himself. "We played together after training a couple of times." And when he realized how ambiguously his words could be interpreted, he added with a crooked grin: "Quidditch, I mean."

That made Jasper and Ben laugh. Seth had turned his gaze back to his porridge and Jessica Stanley snorted disparagingly.

"McCarty, you’re a dick head." With those words, she rose and stalked off.

That had Jasper cackling. "Well, Claws, I don’t envy you and your girl problems."

Emmett gave him an annoyed look. "Remind me again, _who_ was whining about Brandon calling him _irresponsible_ like ten seconds ago _?"_

That wiped the smile off Jasper’s face, and he shot an angry look in Emmett's direction.

Ben and Seth exchanged a worried look. If Jasper Whitlock and Emmett McCarty were now starting to seriously argue about _girls_ , the future of their group of four could be in serious jeopardy.

"Just shut up, Claws," Jasper murmured after he and Emmett gave each other with a menacing look.

The other just shrugged. Then they both grinned at each other.

Seth relaxed his shoulders in relief, while Ben was no longer paying attention to either of them. Angela Weber, a tall girl from Slytherin had just passed them and he was longingly staring after her.

That is until a bunch of napkins was thrown in his face. Indignantly, he glared at Emmett, who, like everyone else in their vicinity, was laughing his ass off. "Come on, Cheney. She is from _Slytherin_! "

_**~*~** _

After breakfast, Alice set off for her first lesson. She was headed for the dungeons, Potions.

Normally, she was the most enthusiastic student in this class. Alice was still Professor Slughorn's favourite student and he never failed to praise her and her extraordinary skills in front of the whole class, but this year Potions also happened to be one of the most unpleasant hours of her week.

The reason for it had greasy, light brown hair and... was calling her name at this very moment.

“Alice!”

She accelerated her steps.

"Alice! Alice, wait for me!" A few seconds later, James Lewis had caught up with her and held her arm.

Horrified, Alice shook his hand off and stepped back for good measure, bringing a little more distance between them. She turned around and looked into his dark eyes.

It was hard for her to see him like that. This was no longer the boy she’d known before they first came to Hogwarts. He was no longer the sweet person, who had explained this new world to her that she’d previously had no idea existed and comforted her when she’d been terrified. When she looked into his eyes now, they seemed to be the only thing about him that hadn’t changed.

"What do you want, Jam?" His nickname slipped out before she could stop it and she immediately regretted it.

She didn’t want him to believe in any way that she’d forgiven him for the incident two years ago.

He shrugged and looked down at the floor. Alice noticed that he looked quite miserable and felt a pang of guilt for speaking to him so harshly. Then she remembered what he had said to her at the lake, and her face became dismissive again.

James still wasn’t looking at her.

"I want us to be friends again," he said as if it was obvious.

Well, it was obvious, in a way. He’d apologized to her many times since their argument and she’d always brushed him off.

Alice sighed internally. How could he actually believe they could be friends again? James knew exactly what she thought of his friends Victoria and Laurent. Alice remembered how the two had hexed Eric Yorkie. Not in a harmless way, like Alice had sometimes done with Whitlock. With _black_ magic.

Eric had spent more than two weeks in the hospital wing. James' friends were scary. And if Alice was honest with herself, _he_ was beginning to scare her, too.

"Really?" She hissed mockingly. "Do you suddenly not have a problem with dirty little Mudbloods like me anymore?"

She knew she sounded bitter, but she couldn’t help herself. James finally looked up and met her eyes. Alice could see the despair there and the need for forgiveness.

"Alice, you know I didn't mean it that way, I didn't -...," he began, but Alice didn't let him finish.

"We’ve had this discussion, _Lewis._ " She was now deliberately using his last name. James also noticed it and winced. "You use this term for everyone else who is like me _._ So why shouldn't you say it? That is what I am to you, isn’t it? A _Mudblood?"_

James looked at her in shock and backed away slightly when he saw the anger in her eyes.

"That's not true!" he defended himself immediately, but Alice just shook her head and walked away, done with this conversation.

However, James did not give up so quickly and followed her through the crowded corridor. “Alice!"

She didn't answer and sped up her walk. Maybe she could get rid of him somewhere along the way to the dungeons.

Luckily, he didn’t have the seat next to her in the classroom but was normally sitting two rows behind her. Still, she didn't like being in the same room with him because she could always feel him staring holes in her back and it made her uncomfortable.

She had almost given up any hope of ever getting rid of him in the corridors when she suddenly discovered Whitlock and Clearwater walking in her direction about twenty feet away.

Alice was sure she’d regret that decision soon enough, but knowing how much Lewis and Whitlock loathed each other and wanting to apologize to Whitlock anyway, she walked towards him with confident steps.

Halfway there, she observed that James wasn't following her anymore, but she didn't turn around to check. She knew what expression he was probably wearing on his face right now, realizing who she was about to talk to: confused, but above all betrayed and angry.

Alice didn’t have time to be relieved of getting rid of him, because at that moment she came to a stop in front of the two marauders and Whitlock raised his eyebrow questioningly.

It was very obvious that he had not expected her to come and talk to him.

Alice wished - not for the first time – to be taller so she didn’t have to bend her neck to look at him, but there was nothing to be done about it, so she might as well own it.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, Jasper?" Alice tried to ask him as nicely as possible, something she would never have bothered to this past couple of years.

She glanced at Seth, who gave her a slight smile before nodding at Jasper and walking away in the same direction they were headed before.

The captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team made no effort to hide his surprise. Not only had she said his name – his _first_ name – for probably the first time ever, but he’d also expected her to still be upset with him about the whole tutoring debacle.

At the same time, he also hadn't forgotten that he himself was angry at her, too. And the fact that she had shamelessly flirted with Benjamin Amun at the breakfast table didn't help in the matter.

Then again, he had no right to be upset about that.

"What is it, Brandon?" His voice sounded was more unkindly than he’d intended.

"I wanted to..." Alice swallowed thickly.

This was a first. She had never apologized to Whitlock before, not seriously at least. Once, McGonagall had made her apologize for hexing him after Jasper and Emmett had played a particularly mean prank on Edward, but she hadn’t _meant_ it so that hardly counted.

And other than that… it had never been necessary before because no matter what she had done, he’d usually deserved it. "... apologize."

Actually, it wasn’t even that hard.

Jasper’s chin nearly dropped down to the floor. Was this a dream? Was Alice Brandon actually apologizing to him right now? The only thing that could have shocked him more would be if she was asking him to go out with her. And that, so much was crystal-clear, would _never_ happen.

"You... what-...?" he stuttered, kicking himself in the butt mentally.

Jasper couldn’t remember the last time he was at a loss for words, but he couldn’t think of a proper response now.

Alice couldn’t help but smile at his disbelief _. Trust me, Whitlock, this is new for me too_ , she thought.

Jasper was still struggling to compose himself and her lovely smile wasn’t helping. She was smiling _at_ him. That had to be another first. “Eh…”

“Look, what I said earlier wasn't fair and I'm really sorry. I know your friends are very important to you and you don’t want to let them down. I’d do the same thing.” Alice continued with her apology, oblivious to the fact that Jasper was on the brink of a mental breakdown.

Now that she’d started, she was eager to get it over with and leave this annoying incident in the past.

Jasper was still gaping down at her as she spoke. Their height difference was remarkable. She really was a tiny thing, but Good Lord, _was she beautiful_ when she was slightly embarrassed like this. In fact, she was always beautiful.

But he still liked how her cheeks were slightly flushed in his presence.

He could get used to this.

“…And I don't actually think you're irresponsible. I remember how you saved James from the Whomping Willow two years ago, even though...” Alice hesitated for a second, unsure of how to phrase it. Jasper couldn’t stop himself from smirking.

“…well, despite the fact that you don't even _like_ him." _That,_ and they both knew it, was the understatement of the century.

Jasper didn’t correct her. The fact that he and Lewis loathed each other had a lot to do with her and it had always been a tricky issue in Jasper and Alice’s “relationship”, so he decided to drop it altogether. He had no intention to ruin this historic moment between them and wanted to keep their conversation in safe territories.

Alice had dodged his gaze until she was done speaking but looked up at him again now. For a brief moment, she was completely overwhelmed by the intensity of the look he gave her.

She didn't know what _exactly_ it was. Maybe it was the colour of his eyes that she had never paid much attention to before. They were golden like his hair, but slightly darker.

He really _is_ Gryffindor’s ultimate poster boy, she thought. Even more so than McCarty. They should just put Whitlock’s picture on the crest instead of that lion and be done with it, no one would even question it.

Or perhaps it was that damn crooked smile on his face. Perhaps it was the way she hadn’t even realized just _how_ close they were standing together in the corridor, as busy students passed them, glancing at them from the side.

"Apology accepted. And I promise you, I will behave and do everything in my power to try to not make your Saturday afternoons a living hell," Jasper had recovered from his previous state of shock and smoothly slipped back into his usual confident attitude, jolting Alice out of her thoughts.

Saturday afternoons? What was he talking about again? Alice had literally completely forgotten about that, despite that fact it had been the trigger for their argument in the first place.

Then she remembered the tutoring. She shook her head and stepped back, bringing a few more inches of space between them.

“It’s fine. I usually don’t have many things planned on Saturdays anyway," she heard herself speak before she even realized what she was saying.

Jasper felt like this would normally be the time for him to ask her out, but fought back the urge. He was trying to let her go after all.

However, after this conversation, he was almost sure that that was an impossible endeavour. 

Instead, he just gave her another smile. The hallway around them started to clear and Jasper realized that class must be about to start. He couldn’t afford to be late.

"Well, I guess I’ll see you around. We should get to class. I have to defend myself against the Dark Arts now.” He joked, and Alice actually _laughed_.

That had to be another first. Jasper suddenly felt high on endorphins.

“See you!" he said, and with one last smile, he turned and walked away with long steps, quickly disappearing behind a corner. Alice stared after him until she realized how ridiculous that was.

And another conversation had gone by without him asking her out on a date.

Why did he suddenly _not_ want to go out with her anymore?

She shook her head in horror to get rid of that thought immediately. That was a _good_ thing, she reminded herself sternly.

Merlin’s Beard, what was going on with her? It was Whitlock! The same Whitlock who had tyrannized her in the early years of school and then seemed to have made it his mission to rob her last nerve by constantly asking her out! He was _arrogant_ and _conceited_ and _foolish_ and…

But what if he had really changed? _That_ Jasper Whitlock, she had just apologized to, did not seem at all like the annoying guy she remembered from these last couple of years.

Under no circumstances was she going to start to _liking_ Whitlock all of a sudden, she told herself firmly _._ He may have changed his ways but they still didn’t have to be friends.

Alice only then realized she was still standing in the now empty corridor and looked down at her watch in horror. She was already five minutes late!

 _Damn Whitlock_ , she hissed mentally.

__

_**~*~** _

****

Emmett McCarty scribbled pointlessly on his parchment.

He didn't even know what he was drawing. Nothing in particular. He was just bored. Why again had he decided to choose History of Magic as a N.E.W.T. subject? Knowing himself, Emmett thought he had probably been drunk when he made that decision. There was no other way of explaining it.

As his eyes wandered over his parchment again, he was shocked to realize that he had drawn the letter “R” on it without intending it. Immediately he scratched it out and ripped the parchment in tiny pieces for good measure.

Jasper, who was sitting next to him, had seen it anyway and grinned at him with raised eyebrows. 

"Why the fuck are you still denying it? It's obvious that you like her," His comment was dry as the desert.

The look Emmett gave him, stated clearly that he never wanted to be approached about that subject ever again, but Jasper was not one to back off after being challenged.

"Claws?"

Emmett rolled his eyes, dropped his head on the table in exasperation, and pretended not to hear him. But after a while, he groaned quietly, "Because I _don't_ like her."

When he met Jasper's doubting glance, he annoyedly corrected himself: "Well, I do like her, but not in _that_ way."

Jasper didn't buy it for one second.

"Sure,” he replied sarcastically.

But since his friend didn’t show any inclinations to talk about Rosalie voluntarily, he turned forward again, trying to follow the lesson despite Professor Binns’ monotonous voice and his disinterest in the topic. After three minutes, Jasper gave up again. History of Magic was a misery of the worst kind.

But even that could do nothing to darken his excellent mood.

"What about _you_? Is there any reason why you have hardly stopped grinning from eye to eye like that portrait of the sailor on the second floor? Especially after you were in such a foul mood at breakfast," asked Emmett.

At that, Jasper’s grin returned even more brightly than before.

His best friend sat upright and bent over a little, whispering: "Does that have anything to do with a certain dark-haired Head Girl by any chance?" He winked suggestively.

"She actually walked up to me and apologized for what she said this morning, can you believe _that_?" Jasper explained the reason for his good mood.

Emmett looked as astonished as he felt.

"Highly unusual," he said. "Perhaps your changed behaviour over the last few weeks has made her realize that she’s actually _desperately_ in love with you!"

He skilfully dodged the inkwell Jasper threw at him and it smashed against the wall with a loud noise, leaving a huge dark stain. Most of the other students stared at them immediately, knowing it could only be those two.

The two Marauders turned their heads to the front of the classroom: Professor Binns had not even looked up from his book. They laughed under their breath. 

Emmett grinned broadly. "No, but seriously, what _if_ Brandon actually starts to like you, now that you’ve decided to leave her alone? Wouldn’t that be ironic?"

Jasper shrugged dismissively. “She probably just wanted to be nice because we have to spend so much time together now. You've seen her with Amun at breakfast.”

Damn it, his good mood was gone now.

His best friend looked at him incredulously, shaking his head. "I don’t get you, Whitlock. You've been after this girl for more than four years and as soon as she starts to _not_ loathe you, you give up."

The Head Boy decided to ignore this statement altogether.

"In the past, you would have cursed Amun for even looking at her," Emmett complained.

He seemed to enjoy this conversation way too much for Jasper’s liking.

Emmett had always had his back and even though he sometimes found it hard to understand how his best mate could go after the same girl for four years, he had always been rooting for his friend. He’d always felt that Alice would actually be a very lucky girl, should she eventually decide to go out with Jasper.

The blond boy shrugged again. "I’m trying to be _responsible_. She can see who she wants, and it’s clearly _not_ me. It's time to get over her." Maybe if he told himself enough…

Emmett on the other hand was beginning to be seriously worried about his friend. Never had either of them given up on anything they really wanted, whatever that was. Merlin, they had spent _three_ bloody years learning how to become Animagi! It hadn't been easy, but they had never even considered giving up. They had even pulled Ben along with them, a boy with no special talents in almost anything, for fuck’s sake. Emmett had always been convinced that they were capable of everything they set their minds on.

And now Jasper threw in the towel after suffering through thousands of rejections without flinching? That didn't sound like his best friend.

"So you’re going to give up? Just like that?" His voice sounded accusing as if he felt personally betrayed by Jasper’s actions.

The other boy shot him an annoyed look. It was obvious that he would have preferred to change the subject. "What are _you_ suggesting, Mr. I-clearly-know-everything-about-girls?"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Just carry on. Clearly, you are on the right track... if she even starts apologizing for snapping at you now. She wouldn’t have done that last year, you must be doing something right."

"So you think I should just keep being nice to her and try not to behave like an arrogant asshole?" Jasper asked sarcastically.

Emmett patted him on the shoulders approvingly. "That's what I meant to say, Mane." He laughed. “Maybe you should have tried that approach four years ago.”

Now it was Jasper’s turn to roll his eyes, despite the fact he knew there was a lot of truth to his friend’s words.

They remained silent for a while and copied the short text from their books as Professor Binns walked past her desk.

As soon as he was out of hearing distance, Emmett said, "By the way, I've put up the list and there are at least twenty people’s names on it already.”

Jasper looked up from his parchment and needed a moment to figure out what Emmett was talking about. Then it dawned on him. "Quidditch?"

Emmett laughed. " Of course I’m talking about Quidditch, idiot. It's going to be a long, tough day!"

The two boys hated the Quidditch try-outs from the bottom of their hearts.

Ever since Jasper was appointed captain of the team three years ago, try-outs had been the worst day of the whole season. He usually spent at least the first two hours getting rid of people who were either not even in Gryffindor at all or had never even held, let alone _sat_ on a broom in their entire lives.

Jasper was puzzled about how these kids even came up with the idea of trying out for the team. At the same time, he was aware of how popular he and Emmett were at school, so maybe that was the reason.

Nevertheless, he wouldn’t have minded doing without the try-outs. Unfortunately, someone from his team had always graduated these past three years and this year was no different.

"I hope you mentioned that first-graders are unwelcome," Jasper sighed.

"Of course. Just like members of other houses. But let’s be honest, that has never really stopped anyone."

The two recalled the last year with horror when a bunch of girls from Ravenclaw had shown up at the try-outs. They’d had absolutely no idea what they were doing and one of them had both broken her own wrist and Edward Masen’s nose when she’d flown straight into him with her broom. McGonagall had been pissed at Jasper for that. He shuddered at the memory.

"True, unfortunately." Jasper leaned back in his chair.

He would have preferred not to think about next Thursday, but there was one thing he had to address: "Do you think Rosalie will really be there?"

Emmett seemed to think about it for a moment. Then he nodded. "Yes, she will. And like I’ve said before, she’s really good. I think she has a good chance of making the team, captain."

With those words, he saluted and the two chuckled quietly.

Jasper quickly got serious again. "Well, let's say she's as good as you say and I want her on the team... what do you want me to do about it? I mean, things are always so fucking complicated with you two. I don’t want your constant bickering affecting the performance of my team!"

His black-haired friend looked at him with a feigned insulted expression. "Ah, so you think I can't be professional and casual when Hale plays on my team, Mane?"

Jasper shook his head soberly. “You can’t even do it now and neither can she. Or do I need to remind you of this morning at breakfast? She was completely ignoring your existence and you were displaying Stanley on your lap, trying to rub it in her face. It’d say you’re both far away from _professional_ at this point.”

Emmett had to admit that Jasper was right about this. Still, he knew he could pull himself together if Rosalie made the team.

And weirdly, he _wanted_ her on the team. "I promise you, I'll pull myself together if you decide to pick her. And she will, too. I have a feeling she really wants this."

Jasper nodded contentedly. "I hope so. But athletic aspects aside, do you even _want_ her on the team?" That was the part he was most sceptic about.

Emmett considered that for a moment. He had to admit things would certainly get more complicated if Rosalie joined the team. And he had no idea how he was supposed to concentrate on Quidditch when the most beautiful witch he’d ever seen was flying around him on a broomstick in those gold and scarlet robes, chasing a tiny flying ball.

On the other hand... he liked her. He wanted to be near her. Even if being in her presence could sometimes be terribly exhausting.

"Good question... yeah, I think she would fit well into the team. And she's pretty great in general, so why not?" He tried to be neutral about it, but Jasper saw right through him.

The blond boy mentally rolled his eyes. It was obvious that Emmett felt _something_ for Rosalie.

His friend started grinning again, having thought of an entirely new angle. “I think _you’re_ also going to like these new developments, Whitlock. A certain friend of hers will certainly also be there on next Thursday to cheer her on... and if she makes the team... Well, then our lovely Head Girl will be supporting Gryffindor at the games _with all her heart_."

Jasper hadn't even thought about it this way. Alice had never been to Quidditch try-outs before. Naturally, she was watching the games like everyone else, but her heart had never really been into it. Quidditch wasn’t something she was excited about – like a good book, or an excellent grade at school, he imagined. Maybe Emmett _was_ right and Alice would enjoy watching the games more if Rosalie was on the team.

Then again, why did that matter to him?

"Perhaps. But like I said, I'm not going to spend this year chasing Brandon, Claws.'

Emmett grinned. " _Of course_ not. But maybe then our Head Girl will realize that she actually wants to chase _you_ _?"_ He dodged the quill almost as elegantly as he did the inkwell before.

„WHITLOCK! MCCARTY!“

Grinning, the two Marauders turned forward to accept their punishment.


	4. Another Confrontation

_**~*~** _

**3.**

_Saturday, September 24, 1977_

Rosalie's long, tanned legs lay draped over the back of the armchair next to the fireplace in the common room of the Astronomy Tower, her blonde hair in waves on the seat. She’d taken off her school robes and was only wearing a white shirt and a pencil skirt.

Alice couldn't see her face because it was hidden from her view behind the parchment with her essay. From time to time Rose nodded absentmindedly. Sometimes she scratched something out and wrote something else or made a few corrections.

The two girls had finished their study session down at the library and had retreated to the common room to discuss yesterday’s events. They hadn’t seen each other since then and still had a lot to talk about.

Rosalie was still angry at Emmett's show at breakfast with Stanley and Alice had pleaded with her to have a look at her essay _before_ they started talking about the incident. The dark-haired witch knew, that once Rosalie started to get upset about Emmett, it would take a while for her to calm down.

"It's a very good essay, Alice. I wouldn't worry," Rosalie said, rolling up the parchment and handing it back to Alice.

The latter was sitting on the carpet on the floor in front of the fireplace and looked rather agitated. She was worried about Transfiguration.

One of the tests the students had to pass in the N.E.W.T. was to turn an animal into another animal. Something Alice had never done before. She couldn’t even handle teacups, let alone living, breathing creatures!

"Yes, but that doesn’t help me at all. I can do the theoretical parts if I study enough, but the practical parts scare me," Alice complained quietly.

Rosalie never had any problems with Transfiguration, she always mastered the tasks in this subject perfectly. Her great weakness was Divination, a subject in which Alice was top of the class.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the portrait hole and the two girls froze and exchanged looks.

Who could that be? Except for Alice and Whitlock no one lived here and _he_ was certainly not stupid enough to forget the password, Alice thought. She’d never let him live that down.

She rose, floated through the room towards the door, and swung it open it with a flowing movement.

Bella stood on the stairs on the other side of the painting, a bottle of pumpkin juice in her hand and was smiling brightly at her.

"Hey!" said Alice, beaming with joy. That was a much nicer surprise than Whitlock.

Bella smiled back. "I thought, since you guys weren't at lunch, I'll bring you something. I also wanted to see Rose again and ask her about her summer. After all, she only arrived two days ago, and we haven't had time to talk all that much."

"Come in," Alice sang happily. "It's like a girls' night!"

Bella climbed through the portrait hole and looked around. "Wow, that's all yours? Damn, why didn't Dumbledore appoint me as Head Girl?"

"Yes, but then you'd have to live here with Whitlock, so maybe be careful what you wish for," Alice muttered, although she had kind of changed her mind about him a little.

Living with him for the last couple of weeks certainly hadn’t been _that_ unpleasant.

Rosalie and Bella exchanged indecipherable looks for a moment.

"Oh come on, Ali, Jasper is not that bad. Most people think he’s kind of great, you know, including Edward for example. And you said that he was really making an effort so far," Bella defended the Quidditch team captain.

Alice glanced at her with an annoyed look.

"Not you, too!" She sighed dramatically, laying down on one of the sofas next to the round table in the middle of the room. Bella sat down next to her.

"If Jasper picks me for the team, you have to be nice to him, Alice. I can’t have your quarrels affecting the team's success," Rosalie interjected sharply. Bella laughed.

"As if that would make any difference. He _has_ managed to win the trophy consistently for the last three years, even though he and Alice have been at each other’s throats all the while.”

Alice turned red. "It wasn't _that_ bad."

Her two friends laughed, knowing that it had, in fact, been _pretty_ bad.

Then Rosalie recalled the real purpose of this conversation, at least for her. She’d been waiting for too long and felt like she was going to explode if she didn’t talk about it soon.

"Can I please complain about McCarty now?" she asked, looking at Alice.

Her dark-haired friend sighed.

It had only been a matter of time until the subject came up again. While Alice liked to complain about Whitlock, Rosalie would do the same with McCarty. Only Bella never seemed to complain. Maybe she had no reason to. Maybe in her world, everybody was actually perfectly nice all the time.

"What did he do?" Bella asked. Rosalie looked at her in disbelief.

"You were at breakfast, weren’t you?"

Bella laughed to the surprise of the other two. "Oh, _that_. Yes, I was. I wouldn't worry about Jessica Stanley. She complained earlier in the common room that Emmett only has eyes for you, Rose."

Alice watched incredulously as Rosalie – Rosalie, the epitome of self-confidence and beauty! – turned red.

She giggled.

Her usual big talk put aside, Rosalie actually only wanted to be admired and in truth, she really only wanted _one_ guy. Alice had known for a while now but had never dared to speak to her friend about it, knowing that Rose would rip her head off if she even tried to bring up that topic. 

"Hopefully he doesn't know about that thing with Yorkie yet," Bella muttered with a grin, after which Rosalie recovered herself and claimed a little _too_ indifferently "Let him know. I will do whatever I want for this last year of school, and I don’t care what Emmett McCarty or anyone else thinks about it.'

Alice wished she could have such an attitude. Unfortunately, she was more the cautious type, who preferred to properly play through every scenario and every single possible outcome in her head. She never left anything to chance. Sometimes she wished she could be as spontaneous as Rosalie or as relaxed (or indifferent) as Bella. But that just wasn’t her.

Bella seemed to realize that Rosalie didn't want to say anything more about the subject.

She turned to Alice again. "And, did you talk to Benjamin again?"

Rosalie's head automatically turned in Alice's direction. "Benjamin?"

"Benjamin Amun, the Hufflepuff captain," Bella added.

Rosalie nodded. "I _know_ who he is. Is there anything you want to tell me?" The last part of the sentence was for Alice again.

The Head Girl’s cheeks turned red now too, and she ducked her head in reflex.

"He asked me if I would go to Hogsmeade with him in two weeks," she explained.

"What?" cried Rosalie. "Why didn't you tell me yesterday in Herbology?"

"I didn’t have the chance.” Truthfully, Alice had completely forgotten about it after her conversation with Whitlock. “And no, I haven’t spoken to him again, all the Hufflepuffs are at the Quidditch pitch. Their try-outs are today.”

Rosalie almost decided to let her friend off the hook. Almost. "Oh my God, Benjamin! He's Top of our Class, isn't he? Have you seen the spells he can perform? When he did that water spell two years ago during our Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, I thought I was going to faint, that was so hot."

Alice laughed. She could see why her friend was swooning over Benjamin like this. Indeed, he was the best student of their year, even topping Whitlock and McCarty by mastering all spells controlling the four elements as if he had never done anything else.

And he also happened to be outrageously good-looking. She’d had the presumption that Rosalie herself had hoped for a while Benjamin would ask her out on a date. He had never done so, but probably only because he did not want to get into trouble with Emmett.

Speaking of the devil, at that very moment the portrait hole swung open and Emmett McCarty and Jasper Whitlock entered the small common room. For some reason, Alice felt strangely caught, as if it were strange that the two boys came in at the exact moment the girls were talking about her and Benjamin and their date.

"Eh, Whitlock. Can't you knock?" she hissed at him to distract herself from the thought.

Alice had no idea what was going on with her recently. First this strange conversation with him in the school hallway yesterday, then the fact that Rosalie and Bella always threw these incomprehensible side glances at her whenever Jasper's name was mentioned...

Slowly, it was starting to get too far.

It was time to return to everyday life. And everyday life... well, that meant that Alice and Whitlock had to go back to driving each other up the wall.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. Again, _this_ was the Alice Brandon he was used to. And although he had intended not to provoke her, it was impossible to bite back the dry comment at the tip of his tongue this time.

"You know I _live_ here, don't you?" he asked, not without a hint of humour.

He could practically feel how Emmett started to grin next to him, even though he couldn't see his face.

Inadvertently, Alice’s cheeks turned red again. She knew he was right, of course.

There was no way she could expect him to knock on the door of his own _common_ room. The bathroom was another story or her room, but this time he was actually right.

There were few things in life that Alice hated more than the moments when she had to admit that Whitlock was _right_ about something.

"Fair enough," she muttered embarrassedly, and Jasper couldn't help but smile at her.

Hadn't he wished yesterday that she would be embarrassed in his presence more frequently? Well, it looked like he’d gotten his wish, and sooner than anticipated.

And since when did she agree with him on _anything_? That was new.

Alice quickly looked in a different direction. He was smiling her at her again, with that crooked grin.

It confused her. She knew the mocking smile or the frozen, false smile like he didn’t even care… He used to put it on whenever she turned him down. Then there was the arrogant smile or that mean smile just before he jinxed someone again...

Was she now fucking _categorizing_ the ways Jasper Whitlock was _smiling_? In the name of Merlin, she had completely lost it.

To distract herself, she snapped at him. "Um, _excuse me_ , you can't stay here. We were just chatting about important stuff. Can't you go to your room?"

Jasper was just about to reply they were actually going to do just that when Emmett - looking at Rosalie - grinned: "What were you ladies talking about?"

Alice, Jasper, and Bella knew exactly what was going to happen next. They were not disappointed.

Rosalie rose from her position at the armchair, strutted over towards Emmett (looking like a supermodel all the while), and planted herself in front of him, flashing her eyes at him. Although she was very tall for a girl, Emmett still towered over her by a couple of inches.

Jasper wasn't the kind of guy to be easily intimidated, but in his friend's place, he would have ducked. Rosalie had this aura around her. She always got what she wanted and was good at demanding it.

"Well, I don't know what exactly the purpose of this question is, McCarty, but we certainly weren’t _talking_ about you," Rosalie claimed haughtily and icy.

Emmett didn't bat an eyelid, which in itself alone was impressive.

Jasper put his hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to calm him down but also warningly. Let it go, he wanted to tell the dark-haired boy quietly. Emmett ignored him and looked Rosalie directly in the eye.

"Ah, I see. You were talking about the things that really matter, right _?_ Like Yorkie? I have to say, Hale, that one didn’t take you too long, you’ve only been back for two days. What about the guy from Diagon Alley, the one you thought was so _grown_ up? I thought the boys here at Hogwarts couldn't possibly satisfy your needs and high expectations anymore.'

His blond friend sighed internally.

This could take a while. He was mentally preparing for the worst.

There had already been situations where he and Seth had to physically separate Emmett and Rosalie, otherwise, they would have scratched each other's eyes out. Or at least hexed each other.

And as fun as it was to occasionally hex someone, it was something else entirely when two people who actually liked each other tried to practically murder each other over petty things like jealousy.

Rosalie was already responding: "Yes, McCarty, you're absolutely right, actually. All these immature guys here have nothing to offer me. I feel like he’s _ruined_ me for all the other boys.”

Emmett responded just as Jasper had suspected, his hand instinctively reaching for his wand, that was how angry that statement made him. Hogwarts’s Head Boy wasn’t surprised. Knowing their history (knowing that Emmett had been Rosalie’s first) it was just such a low blow, and Rosalie knew it very well. These two knew exactly how to push each other’s buttons.

At the same time, he was sure Rosalie didn’t mean a word she was saying, but Emmett was not in the right state of mind to accept that right now. Jasper’s hand caught his, before he could reach into his pocket.

However, Rosalie was faster anyway. She was already holding her wand in her hand by the time Emmett growled at Jasper to let him go.

Alice, though, as usual, was the fastest.

" _Expelliarmus_!" she called out before anyone was even able to think of a spell.

Rosalie's wand flew out of her outstretched hand.

" _Accio_ ," Alice added, and it landed elegantly in her hand. Bella was staring at the whole situation with wide eyes, not having said a word since the boys walked in.

"I think you should go now," Alice told Jasper coolly. He nodded in agreement and patted Emmett on the shoulder before pulling him towards his room quickly.

But the tension was gone anyway. Rosalie still looked very angry and Emmett looked like he'd like to say something else, but Jasper whispered to him:

"Let it go. Now is really not a good time.'

Emmett finally gave up his half-hearted resistance and let Jasper push him out of the room. Rosalie, however, wasn't finished. When she was in that mood, she usually lashed out at all sides.

"What we were talking about, _McCarty_ and _Whitlock_ in case you were still wondering, was Alice's _date_ with Benjamin in two weeks."

Bella gasped.

Emmett hissed.

Rosalie threw her hair back in her neck, looking pleased with herself.

Alice felt like someone had pulled the carpet from under her. 

Jasper turned into a pillar of salt.

For a moment the room was entirely quiet.

The Head Girl cast an appalled, furious glance at her friend, who flinched at that, then turned her head anxiously towards the two boys, even though she had no idea why _she_ was so upset about this.

It was the truth after all and it was not like the whole school wasn’t going to know anyway.

He’d find out soon enough.

And yet, here she was, nervously eyeing his reaction.

Jasper's facial expression was unreadable and for some reason, Alice felt almost sick, although he wasn’t looking at her directly.

The blond Head Boy couldn’t put into words what exactly he was feeling during that moment. It was a bit like someone pouring a bucket of ice-cold water over his head.

He’d fallen into the great lake in the first week of November once, during one of their nightly escapades.

It felt a little like that.

Although he had only just seen them together this morning, this information was much harder for him to digest than he would have thought.

He realized the others were all staring at him. Perhaps he should be uncomfortable, maybe even embarrassed about how, in the wake of such news, everyone was only paying attention to how _he_ would receive it.

Then again, he’d never made his crush on Alice a secret, had been wearing his heart on his sleeve.

Well, most people probably didn’t take it very seriously, after all these years and arguments they’ve had, they probably thought it was some kind of ongoing prank.

Only it wasn’t. Those _were_ his actual feelings.

And right now, he felt like someone had smashed them on the ground, shattered them, and stepped onto them for good measure.

Even Alice was staring at him like she expected him to go nuts. Why did she even care? Why did she seem to be worried about that?

For the first time since he was appointed Head Boy, Jasper wished he hadn’t been. He had been so happy to spend more time with her, to live here together, maybe actually getting to know her better.

However, he had not taken into account how painful it could just as easily get.

If she was actually going out with some other guy and brought him back here to…

And Jasper would have to see them together. Would have to watch her be happy with someone else when all he ever really wanted was _her_. And now the possible candidate for the job was Benjamin.

For some reason, he had been firmly convinced that Alice simply would _not_ go out with anyone else. Somehow, he had believed it might be _his_ year. His chance.

So much for that.

But he knew he had to get it together now. If he had been waiting for a sign from the universe what to do about this whole situation, this was most definitely it.

It was time to banish Alice Brandon from his head – and heart – once and for all.

He pulled himself together, careful not to show any emotions. Jasper had always prided himself on the impressive control he had of his feelings. He could do it. He could pretend this didn’t bother him at all.

All these things had raced through his head in just a few seconds. The others were still expecting some kind of reaction from him.

" _So_?", he said as apathetically as he could manage.

He couldn’t fool Emmett, obviously, but the girls seemed to visibly relax a little.

Rosalie gave him a doubtful look and actually seemed disappointed at his lack of interest for this piece of information. He’d never wanted to hex the blonde before, but he would very much like to right now. Internally, he was burning.

Bella’s look was the worst. Her eyes were so… sympathetic. She felt sorry for him. Great.

“Ten points will be deducted from Gryffindor.”, Alice said harshly at that moment, staring down Rosalie icily despite their height difference.

The blonde realized that she was in big trouble. Her friend would not easily forgive this. 

Emmett looked like he was about to protest, and Alice turned her head to look at him, challenging him to say something. For a few seconds, they were glaring at each other. He shut his mouth again when he observed just _how_ pissed she truly was. It was better to not mess with one of the brightest witches in their year and Emmett was no fool.

“ _What_? You guys should honestly know better than to pull your wands on each other. We’re not thirteen anymore.”, she explained, still furious.

All she wanted to do was to get out of here. She’s had enough of these people and their endless drama for now.

“But you’re harming our _own_ house!”, Rosalie threw in bravely… or foolishly.

“Do I look like I _give a shit_?” Alice was on fire. During the last part, she was almost shouting.

Then, she tossed her short hair over her shoulder and without so much as looking as anyone, stalked toward the portrait hole and disappeared through it before anyone had a chance to say another word.

Rosalie deflated almost instantly and exchanged an anxious look with Bella, who looked more than uncomfortable. She still hadn’t said a single word.

Emmett seemed like he was actually about to say something else to Rosalie, although his anger had disappeared now. Jasper didn’t wait to find out if his friend really was that stupid and instead pushed the other boy towards his room.

“Let. It. Go.”, he hissed through his teeth.

In his room, he let go of his fellow Marauder and Emmett turned around to look at him.

“Shit, are you alright?”, the dark-haired boy asked.

Truthfully, Jasper had no idea. He felt like he was in shock. When had the whole situation actually turned around to be about him and Alice? Or rather, about Alice and Amun, but it was clearly _him_ Rosalie had wanted to hurt by disclosing that information. What had he ever done to Hale that she was coming after _him_ now?

He shook his head unsurely at Emmett’s question.

“She didn’t mean to…”, Emmett said, clearly not knowing what to say either. “She gets like this when I’ve really pissed her off, just lashing out at other people.” He finished lamely.

“Emmett?”, Jasper said with annoyance. He was right, it had been his friend’s mess in the first place that had escalated the situation.

“Yes, mate?”, Emmett felt horrible and would do anything to make it up to his friend. He knew that Whitlock liked to boast about things that didn’t really matter to him and was pretending to be this arrogant prick sometimes and maybe sometimes he wasn’t _pretending_ , but Emmett had been at his friend’s side since their first day at Hogwarts.

He’d been there when Whitlock had realized that he actually _liked_ Alice, even though he’d tried to dismiss it at the time. Emmett wasn’t easily fooled. They were more than friends, they were brothers.

Therefore, he knew exactly how crushed his friend was feeling right now.

Additionally, the exchange with Rosalie had kind of left him feeling a very similar way.

But at least he had a certain degree of surety that he and Rosalie would end up together again in one way or another. They always did. This had not been their worst fight.

Jasper on the other hand, had never actually been with Alice in any kind of way, so the situation was very different. He’d been on thin ice with her for the past few weeks and everyone present at the encounter had probably heard it cracking underneath his feet.

Not that he’d done anything, but it was _Brandon_! She always got her wand in a knot about one thing or another. She would _definitely_ find a way to blame Whitlock for this mess. 

And he’d been so chipper about her apologizing to him only an hour ago. Emmett felt genuinely sorry for his friend. He considered rushing to get Seth, who knew how to comfort people better than he did. Then again, Jasper was so rarely truly upset about anything that perhaps even Seth wouldn’t know what to do about it.

Jasper sighed. The last thing he wanted was pity and Emmett’s whole body language seemed to practically radiate the sentiment.

“Can you leave me the fuck alone, please?”, he asked, not unkindly.

_**~*~** _

Bella had looked everywhere.

Naturally, she had started in the library, because where else would Alice be? But after searching for the dark-haired Head Girl between the tall, dark shelves filled with books with no success, she’d had to admit that maybe she didn’t know Alice as well as she’d previously believed. Or maybe the other girl genuinely didn’t want to be found.

Next, she checked the girl’s bathrooms on all the floors, which took way longer than she’d expected. To her dismay she hadn’t found Alice, but instead a few other crying girls in the stalls, pretty much all of them upset about some boy. Mentally, Bella had sighed.

Since she’d worked her way down the castle, the first-floor bathroom was last. That’s where she ran into Edward.

He could sense her unease from a mile away and glanced at her from top to bottom as soon as he reached her, instinctively looking for any injuries – this was Bella, after all. “What is going on?” His voice was thick with worry.

Bella leaned in to kiss him. “I’m looking for Alice.”

“Why?”, he asked suspiciously, because her tone suggested that something had happened.

His brunette girlfriend looked uneasy all of a sudden, as though she was wondering whether she could tell him. Glancing at her boyfriend, who of course knew all the involved parties well, she sighed.

“I think she is pretty damn mad at Rosalie right now.” Bella herself sounded upset, too.

The bronze-haired boy looked down at her and intertwined their fingers, a small gesture to reassure her. He knew that her two best friends arguing would upset her, too. Bella was too good for this world and would have preferred life – and school – entirely without any conflicts. “What happened?”

She gave a shrug. “McCarty and Whitlock happened.”

That on the other hand did surprise him. “What do they have done with anything?”

“We were just at the Head Girl and Boy’s common room, which is amazing by the way…” She got distracted for a second, thinking about how lucky Alice was “… when McCarty and Whitlock walked in. Rosalie and Emmett immediately started fighting…”

Edward couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. Some things never changed.

“… and she said something pretty nasty, Emmett drew his wand and so did Rose, but Alice stepped in, disarming her. She then told Whitlock to get Emmett out of there, which he was trying to do, but before he got the chance, Rosalie for some reason decided to go after Jasper and tell him that Benjamin asked Alice out yesterday. You can probably imagine his reaction.”

Bella pressed her lips together tightly.

His eyes widened. “What did he say?”

The brunette frowned. Honestly, she’d been surprised at Jasper’s reaction. When Rosalie had told him about Alice’s date, Bella had expected him to get angry, maybe even have a similar reaction to his best friend just moments before him.

But he’d done nothing of the sort. And while she had been aware that the Head Boy seemed to have matured over the summer – like Alice and pretty much everyone at the school had noticed – she still hadn’t expected him to just take it in stride as he had.

On the other hand, Bella didn’t really know Jasper well enough to assess how well exactly he’d taken the hit. As far as she knew, he had appeared to be quite disappointed.

“Nothing.”, was her short reply, still wondering about the incident.

“That doesn’t sound like him.” Edward tilted his head.

Apart from the Marauders, he was one of the people that knew Whitlock best since they had to spend so much time together during Quidditch practices. They also had a few mutual classes.

“I know, right? Don’t get me wrong, he _did_ seem gutted. But he pulled himself together and left with Emmett, pretending not to give a shit about the whole thing.”

“Maybe he has finally accepted that Brandon will never go out with him.”, Edward speculated. “Because let’s be honest… there’s no chance of that ever happening. But it must still be hard. For once, he doesn’t get what he wants.”

His voice sounded almost bitter in the end and Bella gazed at him with amusement.

“Sounds like you envy him.”

Edward's eyes shot up to stare at her in disbelief. “I don’t. Not really. I mean, the guy has money and intelligence and is Quidditch Captain and Head Boy and all these things, but I still wouldn’t want to trade places with him, love. I’ve got you.”

He was smiling at her fondly now and Bella felt her heart melting once more. Somehow her boyfriend always knew what to say to make her feel better.

“I know. I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a kiss. For one moment, both of them forgot their surroundings and were just focused on each other.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. When some other students entered the hallway they were standing in, the couple pulled apart, both not really fans of displaying affection in public.

Suddenly, Bella remembered why she had been in this hallway in the first place and shot her boyfriend an apologetic look. “I need to go find Alice.”

Edward recalled the turn of events she’d told him and scratched his head. “Why is Alice of all people upset about this? I mean Jasper, sure, it must suck for him, and maybe Rosalie and Emmett, but why our precious Head Girl?” The last words came out rather sarcastic.

Bella had wondered about that, too and, while brushing her hair out of her face, replied: “To tell you the truth, I didn’t really understand that either. I mean, it would be something else if she and Jasper were friends because hell, even I felt bad for him and I hardly know the guy… but it’s Alice we’re talking about here. Normally she wouldn’t bat an eyelid at someone hurting Whitlock’s feelings.”

She rubbed her eyes.

Then, a thought came to her. “Maybe she likes him.”

Her boyfriend started snickering at that. “Jasper? _Alice_? No way. Hell will freeze over before that happens.”

Bella crossed her arms, suddenly defensive. She hadn’t had that thought before, but now that she started to think about it, it somehow made sense. The way her friend had almost _defended_ him at lunch on Thursday, saying that he hadn’t been so bad came to her mind.

So maybe there was some truth to it.

“Listen, I’m not saying that she will do a 180 and suddenly begin to go out with him or something, but do you remember how she was talking at lunch the other day about how Whitlock hadn’t even been that bad this year? Maybe he’s starting to grow on her.”

Before Edward could even dive into that, Bella was already backing down. “I know what you’re going to say! Maybe I am wrong, okay? But you should have seen how pissed she was at Rosalie for saying that. I’m simply trying to figure out what is going on.”

Her boyfriend grinned.

One of the things he loved about Bella was that she was so perceptive. There was hardly anything that could escape her notice. And she was usually right about these things, so he wasn’t going to completely dismiss the idea.

“I know you are, darling. You are a good friend. And who knows? Maybe you are right. Maybe Jasper actually managed to change her mind about him, at least a little.”

She smiled at him, always loving it when he was encouraging like that. Then she moved away from him, remembering her mission. “See you in the common room?”

Edward gave a nod and let go of her hand reluctantly.

With one last smile, Bella turned on her heels and walked toward the Great Hall. She doubted that Alice would be there, but perhaps she could find someone who had seen her.

When she entered the Hall, she let her eyes wander through the room until she made out Seth Clearwater standing next to Ben Cheney and Angela Weber from Slytherin.

Bella was aware of Seth and Alice’s friendship and decided to ask him about the location of her missing friend. Maybe she could also make him go and talk to Jasper because she highly doubted that Emmett McCarty would do a good job comforting the Head Boy.

Two birds with one stone, she thought, pleased with herself.

When she got to their table, she greeted the three students politely. Angela gave her a warm smile; the two had been good friends ever since the third grade. Seth and Ben were equally polite, although obviously unsure what to expect.

Bella turned to Seth to ask her question, but before she could, she froze.

Seth Clearwater looked positively wrecked.

Instantly she was surprised how she hadn’t noticed it before. The dramatic, black shadows under his eyes, the pale complexion of his skin and the way his clothes hang down his already skinny bodily baggily, made her almost gasp. 

“Are you alright, Seth? You look miserable!”

The was something lurking in the depths of eyes, but Bella wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger. For a short moment she had the unreasonable desire to step back, but then Seth’s expression changed, and he put on a wry smile. “I’m fine, Bella, just tired. I stayed up way too late at the library these past few weeks.”

She looked at him with concern. “You need to take better care of yourself, Seth. School is important, but so is your health.”

He laughed. “My health is fine, I promise you. But thanks.” He analysed her appearance and seemed to come to the same conclusion as Edward: something was wrong.

Before he could ask, Bella beat him to it. “Have any of you seen Alice, by any chance? She wasn’t here, was she?”

The other three exchanged confused looks. Angela shook her head. “No, why?”

Bella sighed. She really didn’t want to get into the situation again but knew that Seth and Ben would find out sooner or later anyway and maybe it would be easier to get it over with now.

Perhaps then, Jasper’s two friends could go and find him to talk to him.

“Emmett and Rosalie fought again and kind of pulled Jasper and Alice into it. She fled the scene, absolutely fuming with rage and I’ve been trying to find her ever since. Also, I think Jasper is pretty crushed so maybe you two could speak to him? I’m not sure Emmett is the person best suited for the job.”

Seth’s gaze was fixed on her while Ben’s mouth opened in shock. The short boy stepped closer and asked Bella: “What happened, Bella? Why is Jasper crushed?”

The brunette took in a long breath. “Rosalie told Jasper that Alice has a date with Benjamin in two weeks.”

Seth and Ben shared a look that clearly indicated they weren’t surprised. Perhaps they’d even heard about it from someone else. After all, Bella was quite sure sooner or later the whole school would know.

“Great.” Seth raked his fingers through his already messy hair, in what looked like exasperation. “I heard about that but wasn’t really sure how to tell him. He’s been doing so well, you know, actually making an effort not to mess with Brandon this year.”

Bella’s eyes widened. “So that’s what this is about? Jasper is actually trying to change his ways to make her like him?”

Seth laughed humourlessly at that.

Ben gave him an indignant look. “You can’t just go around telling people that, Moony. I’m sure Mane wouldn’t like that.”

His friend actually looked guilty for a moment, before recovering himself. “Well, it’s not like she doesn’t already know. I’m sure even Brandon must have noticed a change that drastically.”

Bella grinned, nodding. “She did. She was talking about that the other day.”

“You see, Ben?” Seth stared at his friend triumphantly, before turning back to her. “But unfortunately, no, we haven’t seen Alice. She wasn’t here. Where are Jazz and Em?”

Bella had already expected that response and sighed. In her mind, there was only one possible location for her friend left. “They're at the Head Boy’s facilities, in Jasper’s room. At least they were when I left.”

Seth nodded. “Thanks. We should go see him.”

The brunette agreed and told them that she would also continue to look for Alice, so the three of them said goodbye to Angela and made their way outside.

In front of the Great Hall, the two boys turned to the left, while Bella walked on, headed for the entrance of the castle. Alice sometimes liked to spend time in the greenhouses on the castle estates, so Bella was hoping she’d find her there.

The walk was short and the brown-haired witch reached the first greenhouse within a few minutes. The door was open and she peered inside. On the floor, almost hidden from Bella’s view one of the tables, sat Alice.

Bella sighed in relief and walked toward her friend. Alice heard her coming and looked up, surprised to see the other girl.

“There you are.”, Bella said friendly.

The Head Girl had been sitting in the greenhouse for about half an hour despite the weather being quite chilly and had contemplated going back to the castle but decided against it. She was still horrified about what had happened, and truthfully, also furious.

“Hi.” Alice gestured her friend to sit down and Bella did, opposite her.

“How are you, Ali?”

The black-haired girl didn’t really know how to answer that question. On one hand, she wanted to complain about Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper, and everything had transpired earlier, but at the same time, she didn’t want to drag Bella into it. The brunette had not been involved in any way and had only been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I don’t know. I’m still furious at Rosalie, to be honest.”

“ _Why_?” Bella realized that her voice sounded way too curious and Alice’s eyes shot up at her in incredulity. “I mean, why are _you_ so upset about this? Jasper, sure, I get it. But it’s not like he wouldn’t have found out one way or the other. And you know that Rosalie didn’t say that to hurt you.”

Alice had to admit to herself that Bella made a good point. The truth was, she had absolutely no idea why she was so furious. Considering it for a moment, she concluded that it was probably because she’d only just made up with Jasper and now it would be very likely they wouldn’t get along after that anymore.

“Rosalie and Emmett need to get their shit together and have to stop dragging other people into their mess.”, Alice said instead.

She wasn’t ready to tell Bella about how she and Whitlock had actually had the occasional friendly conversation over the last couple of weeks. “It was really awful to say that to Whitlock when he didn’t do everything. Sure, he would have found out eventually about my date with Benjamin, but still, to do it like this… it felt pretty cruel to me.”

Since Bella had had almost the same thoughts, she couldn’t help but agree with her friend.

“Yeah, it was. I mean, his face was…” She trailed off, eyeing her friend nervously.

Even though the whole school knew that Jasper had a thing for Alice, it still didn’t feel right to talk about it to the other girl.

“Well, he said he didn’t care.” Alice’s voice sounded almost defensively like she didn’t want to accept any responsibility for the Quidditch Captain being hurt.

And truly, she wasn’t responsible. It was not her fault that Whitlock had a thing for her. After all, she’d certainly never encouraged him.

“Yeah, I don’t really think any of us bought _that_.”

“Rosalie did, I think. She looked almost disappointed that it didn’t get to him.” Alice was furious again, clenching her jaw and glaring holes in the air.

Bella ran her hand through her hair. “We both know she wasn’t really trying to hurt Jasper, though. She did it to get back at Emmett.”

Her friend stared at her again, not understanding what the brunette was implying by that.

“What do you mean?”

Bella sighed. “Think about it, Ali. Rosalie knows Emmett. She knows how to push his buttons. Therefore, she’s quite aware that whatever she throws at Emmett – maybe apart from that comment she made earlier – will just bounce off him. He’s not that easily offended. But the one thing that will get to him and that can even hurt _him,_ I guess, is one of his friends suffering. So yeah, Whitlock did nothing wrong, but Rose knows how protective McCarty is of him.”

That was an entirely new angle. Alice hadn’t thought about it this way but realized instantly that her friend was right. This had to be it.

“I think you’re onto something here.”

The other girl nodded. “It was shitty, and I hope Rosalie has the decency to apologize to Jasper, but one thing you have to give her is that it was effective.”

“It still pisses me off that she told him. It’s my life, _my_ date. The fact that she is using that to make a point in a fight is so fucked up.” Alice curled her lip, still enraged.

Bella couldn’t say she disagreed. At the same time, it worried her that Alice was so mad at Rosalie. Those two were some of her closest friends at Hogwarts and it would suck if they fell out. “I get that, but I’m sure Rose meant no harm… at least not to you.”

“I don’t care.”, Alice snarled. “It wasn’t her place. God, I’d only just apologized to Whitlock for snapping at him and now I have to do that again. For _that,_ I’m pissed off at Rose!”

The brunette was confused and wondered what her friend was talking about but decided not to ask. Better not incite her.

“You don’t have to do anything. You weren’t involved!”

Alice shot her a bitter look. “Please tell me you don’t actually believe that _Rose_ will! Nope, somebody has to, and she won’t. She never says sorry to anybody.”

And then staring forward, the dark-haired girl sighed in resignation.

“No, unfortunately, _I’m_ going to have to be the one to make this right, Bella.”


	5. Banter

_**~*~** _

_**4.** _

_Tuesday, September 27, 1977_

Rosalie was miserable.

There had not been many times during her seven years at Hogwarts when she and Alice had fallen out and she wasn’t used to not having her friend around.

For the last three days, she’d desperately tried to intercept the Head Girl after the meals or meet her at the library or in front of the Prefect’s bathroom. She had even waited for her in front of the portrait of the silver mermaid, which marked the entrance to the Head Girl and Head Boy’s quarters, but still had not managed to catch her.

Alice was avoiding her.

In fact, she was _running_ _away_ from her every time Rosalie tried to approach her. The blond-haired girl was getting tired of it.

While she knew that she had fucked up, pissing off not only her best friend and McCarty but also Whitlock, she felt like it wasn’t bad enough for them to treat her like some sort of pariah.

Yes, she had said something without properly thinking it through beforehand, but really, didn’t everyone do that occasionally?

And it wasn’t like she wasn’t sorry for it. She wanted to apologize to both Jasper and Alice, but neither of them was anywhere to be found. It was like they had evaporated into thin air.

They weren’t at the meals and she was beginning to be at her wit’s end. Or perhaps they were, but not at the same time that she was.

Rose had even considered sitting down in front of their common room and just wait for one of them to eventually show up. They were _living_ there after all.

She wondered whether Whitlock and Alice had talked about the whole situation, but didn’t truly think so. They were not the best of friends, after all. The understatement of the century.

“Miss Hale, would you please read page thirty-six, paragraph five?” Professor Cullen’s calm voice pulled her from her thoughts.

Rosalie looked up from her desk, to find his eyes resting on her, not unkindly. And yet, he seemed to have sensed that her attention was not primarily in his classroom.

She’d always kind of thought that the Professor was quite attractive. With his sandy blond hair, narrow and clean-shaved face, and those sky-blue eyes, he looked like a movie star from one of those Muggle films she’d watched while staying at Alice’s house during their summer break two years ago.

Rose felt her cheeks turning red under his gaze and hastily opened her textbook to read the paragraph.

Once she had finished, her desk neighbour Vera, a Ravenclaw who she was also friends with, leaned over. “You’re awfully distracted today.”

The blonde shrugged. “I can’t seem to get a hold of Alice and I need to apologize.”

“About what?”

“Ah, it’s nothing really.” Rosalie really didn’t want the whole school to know. “Just a silly dispute, but it bothers me that she won’t talk to me.”

Vera gave her a compassionate look. “Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. I’m sure she’ll get over it. You too are such good friends.”

She was truly hoping her friend was right about this. “Yeah, I thought so, too. God, I haven’t even been here for a week and have already made a mess of things.”

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”, Vera asked softly.

Rosalie shook her head dismissively. “It’s really not that bad.”

“Okay. But I’m always here if you need to talk.” Vera smiled at her again and turned her head back to their Professor who had started writing something on the blackboard.

The blonde felt grateful for the other girl. They had been quite good friends in their second year at Hogwarts, but at some point along the way, they had stopped hanging out as much.

Rosalie remembered that Vera had gotten a boyfriend when she was around fourteen or fifteen and had then proceeded to spend all her time with him, instead of with her friends.

And Rosalie hadn’t minded that much, because after all, she’d always had Alice. There really wasn’t anyone else that she could talk to as openly and as sincerely as she could with the tiny black-haired witch.

Rosalie sighed deeply. She missed her friend.

She had to make it right.

Eventually, the bell rang, and Professor Cullen dismissed them. Rosalie had a free period now and had decided to head to the Astronomy Tower to try to intercept Alice again.

She had made it half-way there when, suddenly, someone called her name from behind her.

Rosalie turned elegantly on her heels – her gorgeous hair whipping back and forth – and felt herself getting annoyed immediately when faced with McCarty, who was walking toward her.

“Headed to the Astronomy Tower, too?” Emmett grinned at her, clearly not upset about their argument on Saturday anymore.

In her opinion, it was one of his most irritating habits how he would always pretend nothing ever happened the next day after they’d had a fight, while she was usually still fuming.

“I was, but I think I’ve changed my mind just now.” She wanted to turn in the opposite direction, but McCarty held her by her arm.

Rosalie stared at his hand for a second before, excruciatingly slow, moved her eyes up to his.

Emmett seemed to realize that he was about to lose his hand if he wasn’t careful because he pulled it away quickly and stepped back. He raised both his hands innocently.

“Oh, come on, Rose, don’t be like that.” He smiled at her with insufferable enthusiasm.

She resisted the urge to punch him in the face. “Leave me alone.”

“Are you still upset about Saturday? You need to get over that. I have. Well, it was pretty mean what you did to Jasper…” He stopped when he saw how guilty her face looked all of a sudden. “… but he’ll get over it. He was bound to find out about this sooner or later.”

It was infuriating how nonchalantly he always shrugged everything off, Rosalie thought.

Out of a mean impulse, she shot back: “I wasn’t trying to hurt _Whitlock’s_ feelings. He may be a pompous knob more than half the time, but he didn’t actually do anything. I only said that because I knew it would piss _you_ off.”

Much to her further annoyance, McCarty just waved it off. “I know. I shouldn’t have provoked you, but I sort of can’t seem to help myself around you.”

That wasn’t news to Rosalie. The feeling was mutual. She and Emmett had always been like this, ever since the first time they’d met. Pushing each other’s buttons had been one of their favourite mutual hobbies throughout their adolescence.

She felt herself get calmer, releasing the tension in her shoulders. “Well, I started it. I guess I was still kind of pissed at you for making out with Jessica Stanley at breakfast.” A few years ago, Rosalie would have never admitted how this had bothered her, but it felt too immature now.

Emmett raised his eyebrow, clearly not having expected her to already let go of her anger.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I only did that because I was mad at you, too, for snapping at me on the first day you got here. And for you saying there would be nothing going on between us this year.”

“Nothing _will_ be going on between us this year, McCarty. I stand by that.”

“Why not?” He gave her a puzzled look. “Have I done something wrong?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm now.

“Because I said so.” Rosalie pushed her hair out of her face. “I’m not going to sleep around this year.”

That surprised Emmett. “What about Yorkie?”

“I didn’t sleep with Yorkie.” Rosalie didn’t bat an eyelid.

“You didn’t?”

She looked up at the sound of his voice. Emmett was quite a bit taller than her, so she had to lift her head to meet his eyes. There, she could see a hint of something like relief or maybe astonishment.

It was obvious that he had not even considered that possibility and Rosalie couldn’t refrain herself from feeling a little hurt at his lack of faith in her. “No. We just got drunk, made out and fell asleep in the Ravenclaw common room.”

He laughed. Yes, _definitely_ relieved, she thought.

“Fine, then I’m sorry. Maybe I should have asked you directly instead of trusting the rumour mill.”

“Maybe you should have.” She shrugged her shoulders. “At the end of the day it doesn’t matter because _had_ I slept with Yorkie, it would still be none of your business. You’re not my boyfriend.”

“You are right, of course.”, Emmett agreed. “Although given our history, I think it _is_ kind of my business. I thought we were friends, Hale.”

Friends, she mentally snarled. Rosalie did not want to be friends with Emmett McCarty. She didn’t really know _what_ exactly she would want to be with him instead, though.

“I don’t think so. Maybe you’re getting it on with Whitlock, Clearwater, and Cheney, too, but it’s not _usually_ what friends do.”

Emmett roared with laughter. “Nah, Clearwater and Cheney aren’t really my type.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Whitlock?”

He pretended to think about it. “Hmh, let me think… tall, blond, extremely attractive… yeah that ticks all the boxes.”

Rosalie was trying – and failing – to bite back her laughter. She was ignoring the warm feeling in her stomach when he’d basically been describing _her_. “I’m glad. That way you’ll still have someone this year because it’s not going to be me.”

“If you’re so worried about me growing lonely, feel free to change your mind about this whole not-having-sex-with-me thing.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Rosalie grinned, moving past him and continuing on her way in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. She heard that Emmett was following her; it only took him a couple of seconds to catch up with her.

“You should still apologize to Jasper, though.” Emmett effortlessly kept up with her.

“I will, once he’s decided to stop avoiding me.”

“He is?” Emmett scratched his head. “Hmh, I didn’t even realize. I can talk to him if you want.”

“Stay out of it, McCarty.” Rosalie was getting annoyed again. She didn’t need to constantly be reminded about the incident on Saturday.

He raised his palms. “I’m just trying to help.”

“Yeah. _Don’t._ It’s getting on my nerves.”

Emmett was laughing again. “You sure are a handful, Miss Hale. Every time I try to be nice to you, you snap at me. I’m beginning to think our dynamic is turning into Jasper and Brandon’s.”

They had reached the steps of the Astronomy Tower. Emmett gentlemanly held out his hand to help her up the first stair, but Rosalie just rolled her eyes at him and walked straight past his outstretched hand. She could hear him cackle behind her.

“Isn’t their dynamic sort of changing, though? I thought he really managed to pull himself together over those couple of weeks. At least so I’ve been told.” Rosalie glanced back at him over her shoulder, not stopping her ascent.

Emmett nodded. “Yeah, he’s been making more of an effort to not shatter her nerves this year. I guess, he has kind of realized that this is our last year of school and if he wants her to marry him at some point in the future, he’d better make her like him now.” He chuckled.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. “What is it with Whitlock and Alice? Why is he so obsessed with her?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s just always liked her. Perhaps, in the beginning, he wasn’t used to someone standing up to him and he probably thought she was pretty brave. Maybe he’s into girls that hit back.” Emmett winked as if to say that he was, too and Rosalie couldn’t help but grin.

“It won’t ever happen, though. Especially not now that she’s going out with Benjamin.”

Emmett gave a half shrug. “Her loss. Jasper’s a great guy.”

“ _Sure_.” The blonde snorted, unconvinced.

“I’m serious. There is a reason why Dumbledore made him Head Boy and Quidditch Captain.”

Rosalie gave him an incredulous look over her shoulder. By now they had ascended the staircase and were standing in front of the portrait of the silver mermaid.

“Password?”

They stared at each other blankly. “ _Shit_.”


	6. Quidditch Try-Outs

_**~*~** _

_**5.** _

_­­­­Thursday, September 29, 1977_

__

Thursday arrived sooner than she would have liked.

Alice and Rosalie had not spoken to each other since last Saturday.

Well, Rosalie _had_ tried to apologize to her friend, but the short black-haired girl avoided her like the plague. Alice still felt betrayed on a very personal level.

The black-haired witch had thought about Bella’s words and the more she considered them, the more she believed them to be true. Rosalie and Whitlock had no previous history of animosity or any kind of hard feelings toward each other. They had barely even had any meaningful conversations during their time at Hogwarts as far as the Head Girl knew.

But it made sense for the blonde to attack him, because, as Bella had said, Whitlock was the most vital, important person in McCarty’s life, even more so than even the other Marauders.

There had been rumours for a while now, that things were really bad at the McCarty household. Apparently, sometime last year, Emmett had decided he had enough, packed his bags and left. And where would he go if not to the Whitlocks? Because it wasn’t only Jasper that loved him like a brother, Whitlock’s parents practically considered McCarty their second son, too. They were his family.

The essence of it was, whenever the Head Girl thought about what Rosalie had done and with what intentions, she felt herself getting furious again.

What kind of person would use one of the only good relationships that boy had, against him by coming after his friend? It was thoroughly awful, and she’d expected more from Rose.

At the same time, when Alice was completely honest with herself, there was one more reason why she was still so upset with her friend, and that was, that she had been shocked to realize _how_ much it bothered her to see Whitlock get hurt.

Alice had never particularly given a fuck about Jasper Whitlock’s feelings. When he’d started to ask her out, she’d naturally assumed he was playing a prank on her, because he was _Whitlock_.

It was what he did.

So, she hadn’t been concerned about hurting his feelings, when she’d turned him down over and over again.

But at some point last year, and Alice wasn’t even sure _when_ exactly it had happened, something about his behaviour had changed.

From that moment on, she’d just known.

Known that while it might have been a prank in the beginning and maybe, in parts, it still was, Whitlock actually _did_ like her, in his own twisted kind of way. He _truly_ wanted to go out with her.

It hadn’t changed the fact that Alice had absolutely no intention of ever going out with him, of course. There was no way that would ever happen.

She’d despised him for most of their time together at school and could never forgive him for bullying her former best friend James and all these other people. Whitlock had always been an arrogant wanker and a bully. 

But _nobody_ deserved this. Alice wouldn’t wish heartbreak on her worst enemy, no matter what he’d done. 

She’d actually tried talking to him a few times since the incident last Saturday. She felt more than embarrassed at Rosalie’s behaviour and knew _someone_ had to make it right. It had been starting to eat away at her.

At the same time, she realized that the blond witch would probably never apologize to Jasper or Emmett of her own volition. And someone had to.

For the second time in two days, she’d been prepared to apologize to Whitlock, of all people.

Alice felt like she’d entered some kind of parallel universe where their roles were reversed in a strange way. And she was nervous about it. Had it been their last week of school, she’d probably just ignored him until they’d never had to see each other again and leave it unresolved. But it wasn’t and they would have to see each other again. And very soon, too.

But there was no reason for her to be nervous.

Jasper was avoiding her like Alice was avoiding Rosalie.

Apart from that one time where she’d almost caught him at the Gryffindor table at lunch.

She hadn’t seen him at all for three whole days, slowly growing more and more frustrated and anxious to get this apologizing thing over with, when she’d entered the Great Hall and seen him talking to his friends at their usual seats.

Alice had swallowed hard. She’d really, really not planned to make this apology so publicly. The whole school would be talking about nothing else for days if she approached him now. There would be rumours, there would be gossip.

And yet, she’d convinced herself that she would survive _that_ , but could not pass up this opportunity. Whitlock had turned out to be way sneakier than she had anticipated, and she didn’t want to wait for another day or two until she could voice her apology. So she’d decided to take her chances.

While she’d been crossing the Great Hall, she’d thought about what she would say to him, and, to her great shock, she’d realized that she had absolutely no idea.

 _Sorry that you are in love with me and I don’t feel the same way_ , didn’t have a nice ring to it, now that she thought about it.

 _Sorry about how my friend tried to hurt you the other day by telling you about my date with another guy_ wasn’t any better. Alice had sighed. _Sorry_ would have to do.

But Whitlock – like the rest of his group – had already seen her heading toward them and had fled the scene before she’d gotten the chance to speak to him.

Alice had had no choice but to chat with Clearwater and Cheney for whole ten minutes because most of the other students had already watched her approach the Marauders seats and she sure as hell wouldn’t want anyone to think she had just been there because of _Whitlock_.

God, even absent he was a pain in the ass.

So Alice figured out rather quickly that maybe her one chance of getting to speak to him would be the Quidditch try-outs. After all, Whitlock was the bloody _Captain_ of the team. There was no way he would not be there. And he would not be able to escape her another time.

Sure, he was stubborn. But so was she.

Thus, when she made her way down to the Quidditch pitch with Bella, who wanted to watch Edward in the try-outs, she was determined but nervous.

Alice had thought about little else during this past couple of days than her anger at Rosalie and her desire to apologize to Whitlock. She hadn’t even been able to study properly, and it was starting to become a problem. There was no way she could fall behind this year. This mess needed to be resolved.

Bella was talking more than usual, and Alice smiled as her friend told her about the time Edward first tried out for the team. It had been two years ago, and he’d blown Whitlock and McCarty away with his speed between the goalposts. His reflexes were even better than theirs were and he was fast. Not even Jasper had managed to score more than five hoops against him for the entire duration of the try-outs.

The brunette girl herself was not particularly athletic. In fact, she was rather clumsy. She fell three times during their walk to the Quidditch pitch until her trousers were soaked with mud. But she was laughing the entire time. Bella was used to her clumsiness; it had been a part of her all her life.

And Alice couldn’t help but laugh with her. It was impossible not to like Bella.

Alice knew that she herself could probably play a sport if she felt like it, because her movements were rather graceful, and she was not clumsy in the least. The petite girl had just never felt any desire to do so. While Quidditch had seemed very new and exciting to her during her first few years at Hogwarts, it had lost its charm since then.

She sometimes wondered if her growing disinterest for Quidditch had had something to do with her growing dislike for Whitlock over the years.

Alice had always been annoyed with how full he was of himself for being a great Quidditch player. Maybe she’d just associated the sport with the boasting prick, and it had disillusioned her of any delight she’d ever felt for Quidditch in the first place.

And now here she was, headed for the Quidditch pitch to see _him_. Oh, how the tables had turned.

Too late she remembered that Rosalie was going to try out for the team, too.

It came back to her when she and Bella were already sitting on one of the towers that surrounded the pitch; next to them a few others who had also come to watch the try-outs.

Alice wasn’t surprised to see Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory in the audience, as they were usually to be found somewhere in close proximity to either McCarty or Whitlock.

What _did_ surprise her, was the presence of Angela Weber who was sitting two rows in front of her and Bella. Angela was a Slytherin after all.

But then again, since Angela was scribbling down on a piece of parchment in front of her, Alice suspected that the girl was possibly just here to write an article about the try-outs for the school newspaper. She would most likely have to remain neutral, rather than spying on the team’s newest additions and tactics.

When Angela noticed then, Bella waved her over and Angela got up, walked over, and sat down next to them. Bella and Angela had been pretty good friends since they’d bonded over hating Divination in their third year.

Alice suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Who was Bella not friends with?

“Alice, since when do you care about the Quidditch try-outs?” Angela was astonished. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

“That’s because I’ve never been to the try-outs.”, Alice remarked dryly. “I couldn’t care less who makes the team.”

And when she didn’t volunteer any more information, Bella chimed in: “Alice is actually here to see Jasper Whitlock.” She winked and grinned at Alice who in turn stared at her incredulously. That traitor!

“Thanks, Bella!” Her voice came out more like a hiss. The brunette was just laughing.

Angela’s eyes widened. “Whitlock? I thought you hated him!”

Alice sighed. “I do.” And when she met Bella’s eyes, she corrected: “Fine, maybe I _don’t,_ alright? I don’t particularly _like_ him, though. But I feel like I kind of owe him an apology for something and he’s been avoiding me for the past two days so this might be my only chance to speak with him.”

That seemed to bewilder Angela. “Aren’t you Head Boy and Head Girl?” And when Alice nodded in agreement, she continued: “Don’t you two _live_ together?”

Alice actually felt her cheeks redden at that. She would never get used to people asking that. It was still very strange to think about the fact that she and Whitlock literally slept only a few feet away from the other and shared a _bathroom_.

“He’s very _sneaky_.” She sounded defensive now, making the other girls laugh. “I tried to wait up for him in the common room these last two evenings, but I fell asleep both times and he must’ve walked right past me.”

Bella was shaking with laughter.

“You two are ridiculous. I hope you know that”, she managed to say between breaths.

Alice considered getting up and sitting down next to Jessica Stanley for a moment but then decided that it wasn’t _that_ bad.

Down on the pitch, the try-outs had started. Jasper had walked onto the field, followed by more than thirty-four possible candidates. And that was the count _after_ he had already gotten rid of a bunch of first-years and a few people from other Houses. Some people never learned.

Emmett was standing on his right side as he addressed the students, Edward on his right. They were the only members left of last year’s team.

Then again, Jasper had made it a habit to try out _everyone_ anyway, including the people who had been on the team in the last year. He’d always made an exception for Emmett and Edward, though. They were only here to _pretend_ to compete. Jasper already knew they’d be on the team.

But it was important to keep up appearances. Everyone should feel like they had a fair chance.

Jasper liked to at least pretend that this was a democracy, even though it was far from true.

“So, everyone. Your chance has finally come. Convince me today that you are good enough to be on the team that _will_ win the trophy this year, and I will give you the chance to hold the cup in your own hands at the end of this season.”

He didn’t even bother introducing himself, knowing it wasn’t necessary. Everyone knew who he was.

And he was starting to feel… at home again. Despite his dislike for the try-outs, this was his element. Jasper had been told many times that his charisma and charm made him the perfect leader and he knew very well he was a damn good captain.

“This is my last year at Hogwarts and I will be _damned_ if that cup ends up anywhere else but in McGonagall’s office for the next year when I’m gone.”

Alice shot a side-glance at Professor McGonagall, who sat in the audience as well. Everyone knew that McGonagall had the highest respect for Jasper, simply because he’d brought home the trophy for three years in a row. Now, she looked weirdly proud.

Alice realized for the first time how much this sport could actually mean to some people.

For her, it had always been kind of stupid, to be that obsessed with some _game_ , but the way Jasper was talking, and McGonagall was rooting for the team, it seemed as though it was absolutely _really_ important to them.

And the way the contestants of the try-outs were nodding at Jasper’s words approvingly, it appeared to be important to them, too.

“So, this is your chance.”, he repeated. “You have to be prepared to do your best _today_. I will not make any exceptions and I will not nominate anybody retroactively. At the end of this session, you will know whether you’ve made the team or not. Is that understood?”

Alice couldn’t help herself but giggle quietly. Whitlock made it sound like a military operation. Perhaps that was what it felt like for him, she considered with amusement.

Bella shot her a side-glance and grinned. “He’s taking this very seriously, isn’t he?”

The Head Girl nodded with a smirk and turned her attention back to the pitch.

Bella didn’t fail to notice that her friend was in a better mood than she had been for the last two days. She was just hoping the whole apology-thing with Jasper would go well later.

Down on the ground, the contestants nodded once more, eager to begin. Some of them appeared to be fairly confident in their skills, others were quite nervous.

Rosalie didn’t know what to feel.

She had tried to apologize to both Jasper _and_ Alice for these past few days and had failed miserably at both. They were clearly avoiding her.

Therefore, she considered her chances to make the team to be rather slim. Rosalie was no fool and was well aware that connections and personal preferences played a huge role in the selection of the team. It wasn’t solely about the sport and who was best at it.

Whitlock would pick the people he thought would make the best _team_.

In all probability she had already disqualified herself through her argument with Emmett and pissing of Jasper – the team captain himself – in the process, so her attempt today might be completely in vain.

Then again, she had to try it anyway. Throwing in the towel was not her style. If nothing else, at least she would make them _wish_ they had picked her for the rest of the season when they were playing with a Seeker that wasn’t nearly as good as she was.

Rosalie grinned at herself at the thought. Maybe she sounded conceited, but she’d never cared about that. She wasn’t going to pretend it wasn’t the truth just so that other people would feel better. She knew she was gorgeous, and she knew she played Quidditch damn well.

“Alright. We’re starting with the Chasers. Everyone else may go sit down at the towers for now” Jasper was done with his speech now, and people started to scatter.

Rosalie registered this might be her only chance to talk to him before she was trying out herself and walked towards him, brushing past a few third-year students who were eyeing her nervously.

“Jasper.” He turned around when he heard her call his name and his eyes narrowed.

“Now’s not a good time, Hale.” He was clearly not over what had happened.

Rosalie didn’t bat an eyelid. She was not easily intimidated. Also, she had mentally prepared herself for this not going to be easy.

“I was an asshole.”, she said, before Jasper got the chance to leave her standing.

Whitlock actually raised his eyebrow at that. It was not often that Rosalie Hale admitted that she’d been wrong about something. He’d certainly never heard her say anything even remotely similar to Emmett… or anyone else, really.

“Kind of, yeah.” He grinned.

He wasn’t even that mad at her. She’d only told the truth after all. Sure, her intentions hadn’t been the best, but she didn’t actually want to hurt _him_ , she wanted to come after Emmett. Not that that made any difference, but still.

The blonde grinned too.

“I’m sorry.” And she genuinely meant it, too.

Jasper was more than just a little surprised.

“You’re worried about your chances today?”, he asked suspiciously. Why else would she be apologizing to him? There had to be something else.

Rosalie laughed at his speculation. “Well, _yes_.”, she admitted, and Jasper couldn’t help but laugh, too. “But I also _do_ realize that I’ve screwed up the other day and I’m not _so_ horrible that I can’t own up to that.”

Jasper felt his mood improve immensely all of a sudden. It felt good to have some kind of reconciliation after he’d spend the last two days being angry at her, himself, the world…

Her at least, he could forgive.

“Don’t worry. I don’t discriminate due to personal reasons. If you are as good as Emmett tells me, I will honestly consider you.” Jasper ran his hand through his hair, surprised at himself for his promise.

Rosalie was distracted by those words for a moment. Emmett had told Whitlock that she was good? Before she had a chance to wonder about this further, Jasper had already continued: “And, eh… thank you. I appreciate that.”

They smiled each other for what had to be the first time ever and Rosalie _finally_ understood what exactly it was that all the girls saw in him.

Sure, he was extremely handsome, that much she’d known before. And he was smart and good at Quidditch and all these other things, but it wasn’t any of those either.

_That smile could melt even the deadest of hearts._

Rose had always been so used to not taking him seriously that she hadn’t noticed that he was, in his core, a _genuine_ person. Emmett’s word came back to her: _Jasper’s a great guy_. With some delay, she realized that he had actually been telling the truth.

Alice needed to get over herself and start dating this guy, she thought.

And since she was thinking about Alice…

“Alice is here, too, you know?” Her voice was warm. Thankfully, they were far enough down that no one up in the ranks would be able to hear them.

Jasper ran his hand through his unruly golden hair once more, messing it up even further. “Probably to spy on our team for that Hufflepuff Captain of hers, ey?” He’d meant it to come out as a joke, but it sounded rather pathetic instead.

 _Good Lord, get over yourself, Whitlock_ , he thought.

Rosalie gave him another amicable look. Jasper was starting to think he must slowly but surely be going mad when Rosalie Hale of all people was now starting to comfort him!

“I don’t think so. They really don’t know each other all that well. Also – and she’ll kill me if she ever finds out I’m telling you this – she actually started to defend you and your changed behaviour in front of us the other day, so keep doing what you’re doing this year because it might _actually_ be working. And maybe… try to leave James alone.”

With those words she winked at him and climbed her broom, flying toward the tower to sit down at the ranks. She felt a strange sense of achievement like she’d done a great deed.

At the same time, her head was still spinning from the comment Jasper had made about Emmett. He thought she played well! And he’d even told his best friends. Maybe Emmett McCarty wasn’t so bad after all.

“Jasper!”

Emmett’s voice roused him from his thoughts. As confused and pleasantly surprising as his encounter with Rosalie had been, he had Quidditch try-outs to focus on now.

“Right.”, he said. “I’m coming.”

_**~*~** _

__

Jasper and Emmett had been right. Quidditch try-outs were _misery_.

The blond team captain hated yelling (he usually got what he wanted without having to raise his voice) and yet it was unavoidable at some moments during the next few hours.

There had been a few injuries: June Richardson had fallen off her broom after making one lap around the pitch. Edward had managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but she scraped her thigh when both of them crashed into one of the towers.

Alice had never seen McGonagall so annoyed before.

Edward, thankfully, was not injured in the incident. Bella had slapped her palm against her forehead. “That bloody idiot always has to play the hero!”

Sean Wells didn’t even make it off the ground before his broom kicked him off and headfirst into a pit of mud. It would have been quite hilarious, had he not twisted his ankle while trying to catch his fall. McGonagall took him to the infirmary herself, mumbling the whole time about these “Idiots with heads full of Flobberworms”. She was not pleased that she was missing the rest of the try-out.

She didn’t miss much, truth be told. Jasper felt himself wishing he’d taken Sean to the infirmary himself.

There were a few surprises, though, one of them Leah Clearwater (one of Seth’s distant cousins) who became the first person to be selected for the team. Like Jasper, she played the position of the Chaser and even managed to score a few hoops past Edward who didn’t like that at all. But Jasper was impressed at how smoothly she could turn her broom in the air and how well she caught the Quaffle when he threw it at her from impossible angles. He nominated her for the team before her feet hit the ground again and she seemed more than pleased with herself.

The next surprise was Demetri Young. While Jasper wasn’t fully satisfied with the third Chaser he’d picked (Marcus Henderson had played well and better than the others, but Jasper wasn’t quite convinced he was a good team player), Demetri had also blown everyone away.

 _Literally_ , because he tried out as the other Beater next to Emmett. 

The boy always seemed to know _exactly_ where his teammates were on the pitch and batted the Bludgers away before the balls could hit them. That alone would have been enough for Jasper to nominate him.

Additionally though, when the team captain had asked Demetri to try to knock _him_ off his broom with the Bludger, the other boy always known exactly where to aim the ball. Demetri even _almost_ managed to bat a Bludger in Jasper’s face, hadn’t the blond boy artistically swung himself off and around his broom in a loop at the last second.

Still, it was more than impressive.

The third and last surprise was Rosalie.

Well, it wasn’t _that_ much of a surprise since Emmett had already told Jasper that she was pretty good. Clearly neither of them had had any idea just _how_ good she was.

Every time Jasper had released the tiny golden ball, Rosalie caught it within the first thirty seconds. Not only did flying on a broomstick for her look like she was walking down a runway, but she was also very nimble and versatile.

For the try-out of the Seeker, which came last, Jasper had asked the other already selected team members to fly around the pitch to see if the potential candidates could move around them without disturbing the game.

Rosalie had mastered that task like none of the other candidates. She’d been elegantly spinning, turning, and swirling around the other team members like she was born in the air.

Despite being hesitant about her “relationship” with Emmett, Jasper had no choice but to make her his new Seeker.

Despite these three big surprises, it took nearly four hours to get his team together.

Everyone else was pretty much a disaster. 

­­­­­__________________

Alice had thought she’d get bored after a while, watching a bunch of people fly around on broomsticks throwing balls at each other, but surprisingly she didn’t. It was quite entertaining to watch the different tasks Jasper gave the candidates according to the position they would try out for. Also, he actively participated in all of them.

For the Chasers, which was _his_ position as well, he would pass the ball back and forth with them in the air, show them different moves they had to imitate or would try to confuse them by blocking their way.

They didn’t try out any other keepers, because Edward saved sixteen out of twenty penalties. Jasper had scored the other four.

When it came to trying-out the Beaters, Alice and Bella found it hard to watch. Jasper had released the Bludgers and they were out on the field, terrorizing the contestants.

The Head Girl was quite aware that someone like Emmett, who was the other Beater, was more than capable of defending himself against the aggressive balls, but small Nicole Casey didn’t nearly look as invulnerable. She did well and managed to stay on her broom, but Alice felt like she hadn’t breathed one single time during her attempt.

Bella had covered her eyes the entire time.

They’d had a break after two hours so that Jasper, Emmett, and Edward (who were the only people on the pitch the entire time) could get something to drink and eat. Alice had considered talking to Jasper during the break, but she decided against it. Better not to have that many witnesses for her apology.

She wasn’t sure if Jasper had even noticed her presence here because he’d never looked up at the tower where the spectators were seated. He was far too busy managing the chaos down on the ground. Thirty-four candidates for four open spots on the team meant necessarily that some people were bound to be very disappointed.

He handled himself very well, though.

Seeing him here, on the Quidditch pitch, the petite girl could finally understand why Dumbledore had appointed Jasper as Head Boy of Hogwarts School this year.

His leadership qualities were remarkable.

Everyone seemed all too eager to follow his commands. He had this way of making people listen to him, while also giving them the feeling of being _heard_ , too.

Alice marvelled at how she’d never noticed it before. She _had_ gone to see all the Quidditch matches after all, even though she hadn’t particularly enjoyed herself. Perhaps she’d been too busy cursing him in her head rather than really pay attention to him.

She was paying attention _now_.

During the break, the dark-haired girl and her friends watched, as Jasper and Emmett playfully spun the Beater’s bat around in their hands like it was a baseball bat.

Alice caught herself thinking, that the spin Jasper had done – the one where he had just casually flicked the top of the bat in the air with one finger, making it turn halfway before easily catching the handle again – was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen in her entire life, before brushing the thought aside forcefully.

Since when was anything Jasper Whitlock did, _sexy_?

Then again, Angela and Bella appeared to be equally impressed, so it wasn’t just her. There was no reason to feel bad about having _one_ inappropriate thought, right?

As the afternoon progressed and more and more team members got selected, Alice felt herself growing more nervous by the second. She knew that once the team was complete, she would have to act quickly to catch Jasper, who was probably eager to get out of here as soon as he could. At least, so she thought. He looked rather tired.

At some point, it had started to rain, and everyone was soaked within a few minutes. Thankfully, Alice and Bella had brought raincoats, but she felt sorry for everyone down on the ground.

And there was one more thing.

Alice caught herself staring at him way too much.

His golden hair was now not only messed up but also dripping with water. His Quidditch clothes were clinging to his body, showing off more of his physique than she would have liked. Obviously, she’d always known he was tall and athletic, but Alice was surprised to discover that he was _thoroughly_ _fit_ as well.

And his face, even though she could only make it out from this distance when he was in the air, almost looked positively angelic to her right now.

 _Dear God_. She should _not_ be thinking about this.

But there was no way of stopping her thoughts. This had always been a taboo for her. Even admitting to herself that Whitlock was _attractive_.

She’d been way too annoyed by him for all these years to fully acknowledge that fact. But a fact it was.

Even Bella and Angela noticed it, even though both of them had boyfriends (Alice wasn’t completely sure, but at least fairly certain in Angela’s case).

The Head Girl completely stayed out of the conversation whenever Jasper’s name was brought up, not trusting herself right now with her words, but there was no way she could stop _looking_. Her only hope was that Bella wouldn’t notice, because she would never live that one down.

Rosalie made no move to approach her, despite sitting only two rows away from her during most of the try-outs. Alice was glad about it. She couldn’t handle _two_ of these conversations in one day.

Demetri Young was called upon and impressed the entire audience, as well as the golden-haired team captain himself, by nearly _killing_ him.

The petite girl had to bite her tongue when Whitlock _dropped_ _himself_ _off_ his broom to dodge the Bludger flying toward him at full speed, or she would have screamed. Thankfully, this seemed to have been planned, because Jasper caught himself easily with one hand and swung himself back onto the broomstick in a smooth movement.

Alice didn’t notice the small wounds her fingernails had left in her palms until much later.

She had to give it to Whitlock: He knew what he was doing, and he was pretty damn good at it.

And then, came Rosalie.

The Head Girl had never actually seen her friend on a broomstick since their first year at Hogwarts during their flying lessons. And Rosalie had _much_ improved since then.

Alice could only stare open-mouthed, as the blonde flew through the air like it was her second nature. She looked at home up there as McCarty, Whitlock, and Masen did. Like she belonged there.

For some reason, Alice couldn’t still be mad at her after that, especially not when Whitlock made her the new Seeker. Rosalie was so thrilled about it that she even hugged _Emmett_ , along with the other team members. Alice couldn’t help but share her joy.

But the fact that Rosalie had completed the team also meant that try-outs were officially over.

­­­­_____________________

Jasper gathered his new and old team members to give another short speech, before congratulating each of the new members again personally. Then, he dismissed them.

He was eager to get back to the castle and take a bath in the Prefect’s bathroom. Collecting the balls and the rest of his things, he walked toward the exit of the arena. It had been even more exhausting than last year. Then, they’d only had to replace one single position, not four like today. It hadn’t even taken them an hour back then.

And now, he’d been here for Merlin knows how many hours. Not for the first time, he was actually glad that these were his last try-outs as Quidditch captain. He would miss Quidditch in general, that wasn’t even a question, but this? No, he wouldn’t miss _this_ at all.

Jasper’s clothes were soaked with mud, rain, and sweat, his whole body was aching from the exertion and his voice was hoarse from all the yelling. He longed for that nice warm bath and his cosy bed in the Astronomy tower.

For one second, he wondered if Alice was still here or if she’d gone back to the castle already, but he resisted the urge to look. It wasn’t any of his business.

He locked up the balls again in the referee’s office, pushed the dry clothes back into his bag (it was still raining cats and dogs, so it wouldn’t make sense to change now only to get wet again on his way back to the school) and made his way back to the castle.

The way wasn’t that long, maybe a ten-minute walk and he could make out some silhouettes a few yards ahead of him, but he had no real desire for company at the moment. Which was why he was so startled when someone appeared next to him out of thin air all of a sudden.

It was Alice.

Realizing that there was literally no possible way he could avoid her, he cursed internally. At the end of the day, he was trying to stay away from her.

“Hi.” Her voice was quiet and rueful.

Jasper met her eyes for a moment and could see nothing but genuine kindness. He wasn’t sure he had the energy to deal with this kind of conversation right now, though. His patience had worn thin over the last few hours.

“Brandon, I can’t do this right now, okay?” Even his voice sounded tired.

Alice’s eyes widened. She had thought he looked drained earlier, but up close she only now observed how utterly exhausted he seemed to be.

“You don’t have to say anything.”, she suggested. “I’ll tell you what I came here to say and then I’ll leave you alone, I promise.”

Jasper noticed that she sounded surprisingly energetic for someone who had just spend four hours watching try-outs for a sport they didn’t even like. He wanted to ask her why she’d come (and _stayed_ ), but he was even too tired for that.

“Fine. Fire away.”

Alice smiled at him brightly, before becoming more serious again.

“I wanted to apologize… _again_.”

She put a special emphasis on the word ‘again’ and Jasper felt his lips twist slightly in an attempt to smile.

“Don’t even _begin_ to think that this is the new normal, Whitlock.” It sounded like a mix of teasing and threatening, and she gave him an amused look.

If Jasper didn’t know any better, he’d have thought she was _flirting_ with him. He must be hallucinating. God, he needed to sleep.

“What Rose said to you the other day… I have no idea why she did that. It was pretty shitty of her to drag you into this.” She gave him a side-glance, wondering if the conversation he’d had with Rosalie before the start of the try-outs had been about the incident. Maybe the blonde had apologized to him, too. At least they’d seemed to get along just well enough after that.

“It doesn’t matter.” He shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

He had no idea what Alice was even apologizing for. It was not like she had hurt him directly.

It was not her fault that he was jealous.

“Yes, it does.” Alice hesitated. “… I would actually _prefer_ it, believe it or not if we _weren’t_ constantly jumping at each other’s throats. And you’ve really been making an effort, this past couple of weeks…” She broke off, unsure of how to continue.

Jasper had stopped dead in his tracks, staring at her.

At that exact moment, he realized that he’d never even had _one_ proper conversation with her about… well, _anything_.

One where neither of them was messing around (that had been mostly him), screaming (both of them), pissed off (mostly her), threatening to hex the other (her, too) …

It was _nice_.

He still wasn’t quite sure what she was saying, though.

Alice looked up at him with a quizzical expression on her face as if she wasn’t sure about it either. She seemed more nervous than she’d ever been in his presence. Did he _unsettle_ her when they weren’t arguing, he wondered?

“I guess… what I’m trying to say here, Whitlock…” She soldiered on bravely. “…is that maybe… and that is a _big_ maybe… we could try to be friends? I really need time to focus on my studying and can’t afford to lose any by having to be mad at you all the time.”

During the last part, Alice’s voice recovered her usual confidence.

Jasper, on the other hand, was convinced that he’d wandered into a dream. Well, at least halfway. She wanted to be friends with him?

On one side, it wasn’t _enough_ … but on the side… it was all he ever wanted.

If he could pull this off without scaring her away once again, he’d actually get to know her better.

Maybe by then, his feelings for her would either have disappeared or – and he didn’t even dare to hope _that_ – she wouldn’t be so disgusted by the sheer _idea_ of him anymore that she would actually give him a real chance.

Alice was still looking at him, waiting for a response.

Jasper couldn’t stop himself from thinking about how beautiful she was like this, even in that way-too-big-for-her raincoat, with rain soaking her short hair and dropping down her face.

In fact, this was probably the most beautiful she’d ever been.

Because this time, she wasn’t glaring at him as if she loathed him.

She was biting her bottom lip, looking so damn vulnerable that Jasper had to physically restrain himself from kissing her. She took his breath away.

God, he was so helplessly in love with her.

“Eh… yes.”, he stuttered. All his precious confidence had evaporated. “I’d like that.”

Jasper knew that he was probably smiling at her like some lovesick fool now and wanted to punch himself in the guts. _Don’t fucking overdo it mate_ , he told himself. Or Alice would be running for the hills before he knew it. He tried to put on a more neutral facial expression.

“Great.” Alice smiled back at him, also trying to play it cool. Truthfully, she felt more nervous than she led on. At the same time, she was worried that Jasper would come to the wrong conclusions. This didn’t mean anything. They would just try to be friends. She was still very determined to never ever go out with him. 

For some reason could feel her cheeks turning red again under his gaze and didn’t even really know why. She was hoping he wouldn’t notice it due to the rain.

“We should probably get back.” She pointed in the vague direction of the castle and Jasper nodded.

They continued walking in silence next to each other for a while.

Alice caught herself sneaking little side-glances at him, watching as the rain dripped off his completely soaked Quidditch robes. There were full of mud, too, but instead of being disgusted, she thought he looked kind of… _good_?

Alice mentally snored. If she had told herself a month ago that she would ever feel this way about _Whitlock,_ she would have happily admitted herself into a mental asylum.

But despite everything, she could not help but hope that it would work. That they could actually be friends. She told herself that she only felt that way because they had to spend so much time together this year.

Alice had been surprised that he’d forgiven her so quickly for the incident two days ago. Not that she’d really done anything, but still.

Jasper Whitlock had positively surprised her in more than just a few ways during this past couple of weeks and she felt like he’d actually be a pretty good friend to have if he wasn’t constantly trying to get on her nerves. He certainly seemed to be a good enough friend to his Marauder friends, she thought.

Yes, Alice decided. She would actually give this a chance.


	7. At the Great Lake

_**~*~** _

_**6.** _

_Friday, September 30, 1977_

The weather had changed overnight.

While it had been raining throughout the whole of yesterday evening as well as during the entire night, Alice had woken up to glorious sunshine for the first time in a couple of days. She had longed to go outside ever since looking out of the window after she’d gotten out of bed. So naturally, the day had seemed to drag on eternally, until finally, the bell had announced the end of her lessons for the day.

She had considered asking Bella to join her but had overheard the brunette saying to Eric Yorkie at lunch that she would spend the afternoon with Edward. Since Alice and Bella had been hanging out a lot after her falling out with Rosalie, the dark-haired witch had felt like her friend deserved some time without her, and with her boyfriend.

Therefore, she had decided to just go outside alone. It was a nice change, not having to make conversation for once and being able to just focus on herself. It rarely happened at Hogwarts which was obviously a boarding school.

On her way outside, she’d ran into Professor Slughorn in the hallway, who – as usual – had been very pleased to see her. He’d invited her to the next party of his “Slug Club” as he called it.

Alice hadn’t really been surprised, because she’d been invited to these parties for the last three years, ever since Professor Slughorn had found that Alice was able to mix Star Grass Salve, a medicinal balm for soothing sores and wounds when no one else in her class had managed it.

Ever since then, he’d been one of her biggest fans and was always thrilled to see her. In the beginning, Alice had found it strange that he was so openly showing his preferences for some students to everyone, but had gotten used to it over time.

So she had agreed happily to attend his party. Last year, Benjamin had been there, too, and she was looking forward to seeing him again.

After her conversation with Slughorn, Alice had left the Castle, her school bag in her hands, and headed for the Great Lake. She always preferred to sit next to the water. It calmed her usually very busy mind.

Alice also knew that she needed to concentrate. She had to get her Arithmancy essay done today, seeing as the deadline was in two days and she wanted to hand it in one day earlier. Therefore, she had brought a blanket and her books and sat done at a lovely spot underneath a hybrid larch, getting to work.

When she was almost finished, writing the last paragraph of her homework, she suddenly heard footsteps approaching her. When she looked up from her parchment, she found herself faced with nobody other than Rosalie.

Alice had known that she couldn’t avoid the other girl forever and after the Quidditch try-outs yesterday, she didn’t feel the need to anymore. She knew that Rosalie hadn’t meant to hurt her, and if even Whitlock seemed to have forgiven her for the incident, so should she.

Rosalie seemed nervous anyway. “Hi.” Her voice was quiet, unsure.

The Head Girl decided to let go of her irritation completely. “Hey. How are you doing?”

Rosalie apparently hadn’t expected her to be so friendly, because she looked puzzled for a moment, staring at her friend. Then, she smiled. “Tremendous. Or at least, I would, but there is one more apology that I need to make to my best friend.”

Alice smiled. “There’s nothing to forgive really. Everyone at schools knows that best friend of yours has a tendency to be a bit overdramatic at times.”

The blonde was more than just a little relieved, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

She laughed. “I think you’re confusing my friend. Really, that person you’re describing is me.”

And when the two girls gave each other a warm look, Rosalie added: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into this mess. I just get so fucking angry at McCarty sometimes and you know how I am… I just lash out. Everyone else is just collateral damage.”

The dark-haired girl was pleasantly surprised that Rosalie was actually apologizing. She knew how hard these kinds of things were for her. Alice would have forgiven her even without a proper apology, but this was even better.

She shrugged. “I get it. McCarty can be really annoying sometimes. Or rather, most of the time.”

Rosalie laughed heartily at that. “God yes. He’s kind of an expert in that field. If “Annoying People” would be a school subject, Emmett would be top of the class. He’d probably single-handedly win us the house trophy with all those extra points.”

The girls chuckled before Alice turned serious again. “And you apologized to Whitlock, too, I gathered? Yesterday before the try-outs?”

The blonde nodded. “Yeah. He was surprisingly nice about it, just kind of waving it off. I had expected a bit more backlash.” She eyed her friend suspiciously. “Actually, from both of you. Why are you forgiving me so quickly after denying my existence for almost a whole week?”

“I saw how happy you were yesterday, making the team, and couldn’t even be mad at you any longer. I was rooting for you the whole time, and you did amazingly well. I had no idea you were this good!” Alice motioned her friend to sit down on her blanket next to her, and Rosalie did.

“Ah, it’s nothing. You know my friends that I met last summer in France? They visited in August for two weeks and we played Quidditch together basically every single day. It was so much fun. Also, Emmett and I kind of played a few times last year. Not really that serious, but still. Also, Jasper mentioned that Emmett had told him that I played well.” Rosalie still found it hard to believe. “I was so surprised when he said that!”

Alice grinned at her friend’s enthusiasm. “Rosalie, Emmett _likes_ you. Is that really so hard to believe? I mean, he’s not alone. Every boy at school does.”

To her astonishment, the other girls’ cheeks reddened.

Rosalie seemed embarrassed about that because she turned away and stared out over the dark water of the lake. “I know he does. But he’s also not really the kind of person to admit when other people are good at something, let alone tell his friends about it.”

Alice had to admit that that was probably true. “Fair enough. But maybe he doesn’t have a problem with it when it’s you. Maybe he just wants to say nice things about you.”

The blonde laughed. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” She turned back at her friend. “Besides, not _every_ boy at school likes me. Jasper doesn’t.”

With that, she gave Alice a wink.

Embarrassingly, the petite witch blushed at that, too. She tried to deflect. “Of course he does. You just told me that he instantly forgave you when you apologized.”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

“I actually apologized to Whitlock, too, believe it or not.” Alice sighed, deciding to tell her friend now.

Rosalie’s eyes widened. “About what? You haven’t done anything.”

“Well, it kind of felt like I had. Not that I feel guilty about going out with Benjamin”, she said quickly when she saw Rosalie’s face. “I don’t! But, isn’t it kind of fucked up that one of the best ways to hurt Whitlock is to say something about me? So yeah, for some weird reason I felt like I had to say something to him. Especially because we have that first tutoring lesson tomorrow and I didn’t want it to be awkward.”

“How did that go? Your conversation with him?” Rosalie was genuinely curious.

“Really well.” She shook her head, still surprised at how pleasant their talk had been. “Whitlock didn’t jump at my throat or anything and actually like you said he did when _you_ apologized, shrugged it off like it hadn’t hurt him all that much.”

Alice for some reason left out the part where she’d been realizing how attractive he really was and also the truce they had made.

“Maybe he is actually getting over you.”, Rosalie suggested. “Maybe this had made him finally realize that you’re just not into him and that it would be better to finally let this go.” But if she was honest, she didn’t believe that for one second.

Somehow, Alice didn’t like the sound of that.

But of course, she would never admit that out loud to her friend’s face so instead, she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe. You never know. Considering how differently he has been behaving so far, nothing would surprise me with Whitlock this year.”

Alice noticed that her voice sounded strangely monotonous.

The blonde didn’t miss it but felt like it would be a mistake to ask. After all, Alice and she had only just made up and she didn’t want to risk the other girl getting upset with her again.

“What are you working on?”, she asked, looking down at the piece of parchment Alice had been writing on.

“My Arithmancy essay. It’s still not quite done. But I want to hand it in tomorrow. It has been a pain in the ass.”

Rosalie nodded. “Thank Merlin I got rid of that wretched subject last year. Not that Study of Ancient Runes is that much better, but at least I’ve got Professor Cullen.”

She winked suggestively and Alice laughed.

“What is it with you and Professor Cullen? You know that he’s married, right?”

Rosalie grinned. “A girl can look, right? And there’s much to look at with the man.”

The Head Girl had to laugh at that again and her friend joined in. It was nice having Rosalie back, Alice thought happily. Also, she kind of had to admit that Professor Cullen did in fact have that “Hot Professor” vibe going on.

“Fair enough. Just try to not let Professor Pratt – although, actually, it’s Cullen now, too – catch you ogling her husband.”

Rosalie laughed. “Oh, believe me, she knows how attractive her husband is. And I’m sure she also knows that half the girls at Hogwarts got a thing for him. The woman has good taste.”

The petite Head Girl rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed but was really more amused.

“No husbands are safe from you, Hale.” But in truth, she didn’t mean it. Rosalie had never done anything to steal someone’s partner… at least not willingly.

Before the blonde could think of a reply, suddenly there was a voice coming from the direction of the castle: “Alice!”

Both girls turned toward the speaker. Walking straight at them, with a determined expression on his face, was no other than James Lewis.

Alice resisted the urge to jump to her feet and run in the opposite direction, that was how irritated she felt all of a sudden.

Rosalie threw her friend a glace, basically asking whether they should just pack up Alice’s things and leave, but the dark-haired witch just shook her head slightly. She could handle this.

James had reached them now and came to a stop about two metres away from them, still keeping his distance. He was smart enough to know that cornering Alice wouldn’t be overly wise. “There you are. Professor Slughorn told me you were headed for the Great Lake.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, and so you thought it would be a good idea to come out here and pester me?”

Her former best friend had expected that reaction and wasn’t shocked. Every one of their conversations had started like this for the past two years.

“How long are you going to hate me, Alice?” His voice sounded resigned.

Alice wasn’t having any of it. “Have you changed your mind about joining the Death Eaters?”, she jumped straight to the point.

James hesitated. Then he decided it would be better to say nothing in this situation. “I want us to be friends again.”

He knew he was deflecting, which Alice noticed, too, but there was no way he could answer that question without her being even angrier at him.

“We are not going to be friends again, Lewis. Get that into that thick skull of yours. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve made your decision. You’ve chosen wrong.”

She didn’t have any intention to go easy on him. Ever since that incident here at the Lake with him, the Marauders, and herself, Alice had not felt any desire to forgive him or ever become friends again.

At least not, if he didn’t seriously start to question his life choices.

“Alice…”, he began, but Rosalie cut him off.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Lewis? Stop bothering her! Let me spell it out for you: She doesn’t want to be friends with you anymore! Just in case her ignoring you for the past two years was too subtle for you.”

He flinched at her words and glared at the blonde, who had now stood up as if she was preparing for a fight.

James felt the strong desire to hex her and wipe that smug expression off her face. Maybe make her feel pain similar to the one he’d had for the past two years after his falling out with Alice.

But he knew _then_ she would certainly never forgive him, so his wand stayed in his pocket.

“She can speak for herself.” His voice was icy. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

Alice was equally annoyed. “Yes, you’re right about that. And I have. About a million times I’ve told you to go fuck yourself. My mind hasn’t changed since then, so just accept it and _move on_. It’s getting really tiresome having to have one of these conversations with you every two weeks. Besides, you’ve got your other friends now.”

Her tone was bitter and brought across precisely what she thought about his so-called friends.

Victoria and Laurent didn’t make a secret out of the fact that they worshipped the Dark Lord and couldn’t wait to join him after their time at Hogwarts had passed.

James flinched again, struck once more by the hostility in her voice.

After they’d met, Alice had always been so sweet and kind to him, always a ray of sunshine, always laughing and joking around. He wondered when exactly their friendship had taken a turn for the worse, but deep down, he knew: Everything had started when she’d been sorted into Gryffindor and him into Slytherin.

They had still managed to hold onto their friendship for a few years after that, but being around people who had a certain animosity towards the other’s house, hadn’t exactly had the most positive effects on either of them.

With a bitter feeling in his mouth, James couldn’t help himself but retort. “And you’ve got your friends. I heard that you’re getting along with Clearwater now. What’s next? _McCarty_ and _Whitlock_? Have you forgotten all the things these damned Marauders have done all these years? But I guess you don’t care. You’ve changed, Alice. You’re not the girl I used to know and like anymore. Your fucking loyalty to your house has corrupted you!”

The last words came out as a hiss.

Alice was very close to snapping and drawing her wand on him.

For the first time ever, she felt some sort of sympathy for Whitlock and McCarty and their dislike for James. Back then, she’d always considered it unjustified, but she was beginning to realize that James had not been as innocent as he’d always claimed.

She forced herself to calm down. She was still Head Girl after all and could not be seen fighting people. To be safe, she grabbed Rosalie’s arm, because the blonde also looked like she was going to curse Lewis right now. “Don’t.”

Then, turning back at her former best friend, she said, her voice cold as ice: “Twenty points deducted from Slytherin for trying to provoke me and start a fight. Don’t think I won’t use my position as Head Girl to make you stay away from me, because I will, you fucking creep. Safe yourself and your house the trouble and just _get the hint_!”

She was shrieking at the end, now actually grabbing her things, pushing them in her bag hastily, and pulled Rosalie with her.

Just away from him.

James didn’t follow her. He had expected it to go this way but was still shocked by _how_ _much_ she seemed to hate him.

Alice was furious. She wanted to punch something, or maybe hex someone. Preferably James himself but right now she would happily take on his scary friends, too.

“Are you alright?” Rosalie was worried about her friend’s livid expression.

It wasn’t the first time that she’d looked like that after a confrontation with someone – usually either Whitlock or Lewis – but her friend seemed eager to lash out at the next person messing with her.

“I’m fabulous!” Her voice said differently.

Rosalie raised an eyebrow, not even trying to contradict her with words.

“It’s just… it makes me so fucking angry, you know? All these bloody Hogwarts boys think they can just do whatever the hell they want without having to face any consequence, you know? They will just say the most horrible things and then think, oh if they only apologize, everything will go back to the way it was before! It doesn’t work like that! You just can’t decide to start to like someone again after they’ve done horrible things in the past! It takes a bit more effort than that!” She finished her little speech breathlessly.

Alice actually didn’t have any idea why this made her so angry. It wasn’t like she’d had similar conversations with James for the last two years.

Rosalie was surprised, too, and suspicious. “Who exactly are we talking about here? Is this still about James… or _something_ else?”

The Head Girl glared at her friends, irritated once more. “Of course, it’s about James! Who else would it be about?”

The blonde raised her palms in surrender, not wanting to argue again. “No one. It’s just… you should be used to it by now, I mean. With James. He tries to be friends again with you pretty frequently and has been trying to for years.”

“It doesn’t matter. It won’t happen and if he tries for twenty more years! I won’t be friends with him again.”

Rosalie still couldn’t shake the impression that this was, _in fact_ , about something else entirely, but decided to surrender.

“I know, Ali. I’m on your side here, remember. I wouldn’t want to be friends with Lewis if we were the last two people on this earth. He’s beyond weird and creepy somehow.”

An old reflex kicked in, and for one second, Alice felt like defending her former friend before stopping herself.

After all, she’d been thinking pretty much exactly that same thing. She nodded instead.

“Exactly my point. He just needs to let this go.”

She found herself wondering if it was really James she was talking about.


	8. Tutoring

_**~*~** _

_**7.** _

_Saturday, October 1, 1977_

Jasper was nervous about today.

He hadn’t seen Brandon since their conversation after the Quidditch try-outs, having spent all day yesterday after school helping Ben with his homework in Herbology – a subject in which, admittedly, he also wasn’t an expert – so naturally, he wondered about where they stood now.

Sure, she had apparently felt bad about the incident on last week’s Saturday and had even apologized to him, but with Brandon, one could never know for sure. Even the fact that she’d asked him whether they could maybe try to become friends – Jasper still couldn’t believe it – didn’t necessarily have to mean anything. He was sure that one wrong word out of his mouth would make this card house collapse before he even knew what he had done wrong.

For that reason, he was raking his fingers nervously through his hair while waiting for Alice to show up in their common room on Saturday morning and fiddled around with the strap of his bag to distract himself.

He had no idea what to expect.

On one hand, he was hoping to get to talk to her a little today, maybe even get to know her better. He longed to find out what made her laugh and what kind of things she enjoyed.

Yes, they had gone to school together for the last six years, but he was still not entirely sure what made her tick.

On the other hand, he was still terrified that if they spend more time together, maybe she’d start to dislike him for other reasons than her previous ones. Maybe she would think him uninteresting or dull.

While he didn’t _really_ think that she would – he, after all, felt like his life was probably the exact opposite of dull –, he couldn’t help himself but feel insecure.

A feeling, that Jasper Whitlock hadn’t experienced many times during his seventeen years of existence.

He didn’t have more time to think about it, though, because Alice entered the common room at this moment, and he was distracted by how stunning she looked.

Her short, spiky black hair stood in all directions, but it looked good like she’d intended it this way. She was wearing make-up, too, amplifying the effect of her delicate eyelashes and her rosy cheeks. Additionally, her beautiful cornflower blue eyes were highlighted by the eyeliner she’d applied.

Unlike him, she was wearing her school robes; Jasper had decided to put on a casual white shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, as well as a simple pair of black trousers. He suddenly felt the need to run back to his room and put on his school uniform as well, before suppressing the thought.

It was ridiculous. Since when did he care about what he was wearing?

After all, it was Saturday and they were allowed to wear whatever the hell they wanted.

Alice stopped in the doorframe of the hallway that led to their rooms, only now noticing him. She also seemed to think about their different choice of clothing, but apparently, she came to the same conclusion as him; that it didn’t really matter.

“Hi.”, Jasper greeted her, his voice sounding strangely hoarse.

For a moment, he couldn't think of anything else to say, still too busy taking in her appearance.

“Good morning.” Her voice was friendly, but kind of distancing.

She wasn't really looking at him but instead started staring at the painting behind his back.

For some reason, the situation felt awkward. Had she really asked him to be friends just the day before yesterday? Maybe Jasper had imagined that after all.

“Are you ready?” He didn’t want to sound too eager, but instead, it sounded rather disinterested.

He cringed mentally.

Alice nodded. She was more than eager to get this over with, while at the same time having a strange sense of excitement she couldn't explain.

Her last conversation with Jasper had been quite pleasant which was something she wasn't used to.

“Okay. Let's go then. I'm assuming, we have to get to the library?” The Head Boy of Hogwarts School felt like he had to say something because he realized that she probably wouldn't.

Alice nodded again, this time with a smile. “Have you got your books?”

It sounded as though she expected him to have forgotten them.

The blond boy was grinning now while pointing at his school bag. “Of course. Who do you think I am?” The last part came out teasingly.

The dark-haired witch felt herself blushing once more. She still wasn't looking at him when she crossed the room, walking in his direction.

She noticed how good he looked, in this white shirt which he hadn't buttoned up all the way to his collar, revealing a bit of skin next to his collarbone under his neck. Alice was staring at that spot a little too long, before quickly moving her gaze upwards again.

His hair was still slightly wet from the shower he must have taken before she came down. Alice shook her head trying to get rid of the thoughts.

She should not be thinking about this.

When she wasn't replying, Jasper decided to drop the topic. “Should we get going then?”

“Yes, I think that's a good idea.” The head girl walked past him toward the portrait hole, glad that she didn’t have to be face-to-face with him.

While they were walking down the stairs of the astronomy tower, Jasper felt himself wondering whether he'd imagined their conversation two days ago.

Alice seemed very reserved today, and not at all like she was seriously willing to become friends with him. He had been so thrilled the other day about the prospect of her giving him a chance.

Maybe he had been hallucinating the whole thing after all. After all, he _had_ been pretty tired.

At the same time, he was racking his brain for something to say to make her loosen up in his presence, but he couldn't think of anything.

Therefore, for a moment, they just walk next to each other quietly without either of them saying anything.

Then, to his surprise, Alice broke the silence. “So, are you happy with your team? It seemed to me like you found some really good players this year. I think you might actually have a pretty good chance of winning the Quidditch Cup this year.”

Jasper had not expected her to speak to him about Quidditch, of all things. As far as he was aware, the petite girl had never had a particular interest for the sport.

But maybe that had more to do with her dislike for _him,_ than with the actual game.

Either way, he was happy that she had started the conversation.

“Yeah, I think we've got a pretty good chance. Rosalie is excellent, actually, and I'm also quite happy with Leah and Demetri. I was surprised to see you at the Quidditch try-outs, to be honest. I had no idea you liked Quidditch.” Jasper would have said anything to keep this conversation going.

“I don't. Not really. But since Rosalie had decided to try out for the team, I felt like I had to support her.” The lie came easily over her lips.

She wasn't going to tell him that she'd only been there because she wanted to see _him_ and apologize.

It was bad enough, that she had asked him to become friends - as to why she’d said that, she was still unsure - but she felt like it would be more than unwise to tell him _that_.

“I had no idea she was _this_ good. If I had, I might have asked her to join the team sooner. We could have needed her last year.” Jasper was trying to be nice, but there was some truth to it.

Their last Seeker, Aro Winters, had been decent, but the Captain of the Quidditch team had a feeling, that Rosalie might be even better. Her instincts and reflexes seemed superior to the other boy’s.

Alice smiled, not really surprised that Rosalie’s skills had won him over so quickly. “Yeah, even _I_ was surprised to see how good she really was. I mean, I knew she liked Quidditch and she has always mentioned that she played pretty regularly, but she looked like a proper professional up in the air.”

“You're right. I think even Emmett was quite surprised at how amazing she was, and they _had_ played together before.” Jasper grinned.

Strangely, Alice felt the need to say _something_ _nice_ to him. “You were pretty impressing too, by the way. I couldn't believe how well you handled the situation with all these people who had clearly never sat on a broom in their entire life before. What, in the name of Merlin, gave them the idea that they could try out for the team?”

Jasper couldn't believe what he was hearing. Had she actually given him a compliment just there? It sounded like it, but he wasn't sure. That had to be another first.

Instead of remarking on it – which he felt like she wouldn't take well –, he decided to stay on safe ground.

“That actually happens every year”, he said with a sigh. “Some people just don't get it. Then again, try-outs have never taken _this_ long before, the longest we've had was two hours and that was when we had over fifty contestants.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “When was that?”

“Two years ago. That was when the entire team had to be replaced except for me. It was also Emmett's first year and Edward’s.”

They had reached the end of the staircase by now.

Jasper made sure to keep a respectful distance so their bodies wouldn't touch, even though the desire to hold her hand was all too powerful. For one second, he imagined her face if he actually _did_ reach out to her and took her hand. She would probably try to hex him again or yell at him.

Either way, it didn't seem like a smart idea.

Alice laughed. “Was that your first year as captain?”

The blonde head boy shook his head. “No, it was my second, but it was one of the worst years, so far. Although this year might have been worse. Let's just say injuries usually a part of the program when it comes to try-outs.” He grinned at that.

“You handled that well, nonetheless. I think it was the first time I could actually kind of see why Dumbledore made you Head Boy in the first place. I'll have to admit, on the Quidditch pitch, you've got quite the leadership skills.”

They were walking next to each other in the hallway now only minutes away from the library. Jasper felt the desire to draw out their walk to have more time alone with her but couldn't think of any reason how he could.

The eyes of the portraits on the wall were following them suspiciously.

Internally, he grinned to himself. Everybody in the school would be shocked to see them together like this, despite the fact that they were just walking next to each other innocently, and the paintings would be no exception.

At the same time, Jasper still couldn't believe how _nice_ Alice was being. Even though she had asked him to become friends, it still felt weird that they were having another normal conversation without yelling at each other and that she was even going as far as _complimenting_ him.

He longed to ask her the question that had been burning on his mind for two days now, ever since he had seen her in the audience at the try-outs. “I was still surprised you stayed for the whole four hours, you know? You could have left after Rosalie was done, or only shown up for _her_ attempt.”

Alice wasn't looking at him and clearly avoiding his eyes. “It was more interesting than I had expected, even funny at times. And since I have no idea about Quidditch, I didn't realise that Rosalie would be last.” She sounded defensive now, so Jasper decided to drop the topic, although still not knowing what to make of it.

“That makes sense. The weather was pretty shitty though, I would have understood if you hadn't wanted to stay. I know _I_ felt like that a few times.” He was laughing now.

It was the truth. He had wanted to leave pretty much the entire time since he absolutely despised try-outs.

The petite girl was laughing now, too. “Yeah, you seemed rather miserable at some point. Can't be easy to have to be the one to make these kinds of choices. I know a lot of people were awfully disappointed when they weren't selected for the team.”

Alice remembered Mike Newton in particular, who had seemed like he would want to throw his broomstick at Jasper when he wasn't picked as the second Beater.

“Quidditch try-outs _are_ misery.”, Jasper said. “I hate them more than anything. It is pretty much the only thing that I am _not_ going to miss next year about Quidditch.”

Alice was starting to loosen up. “Yeah, what _are_ you going to do next year with your life when you're not Quidditch captain anymore? All that free time you'll have on your hands, and the missing fans and attention... _That_ will be misery.”

She was teasing him now.

He laughed, playing along. “I know, right? It will be an entirely new feeling when people aren't screaming my name anymore, cheering me on and falling at my feet because I’m an amazing Quidditch player. I'm not sure my ego can handle it. I actually need this sort of attention to be able to function.”

His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“I can imagine. Must be hard, to live like the rest of us for a change.” She was grinning amusedly at him.

They had reached the library by now and Jasper felt oddly disappointed that their time alone together was over. In the last few weeks, he and Alice had actually had a few proper conversations, but he still felt like he didn't know any more about her than he had before.

“What about you, Brandon? What are _you_ going to do with your life, once all of this is over? For you, it must be quite a change to not have your head stuck behind your books all the time, or study for some kind of test.”

She laughed. “No, actually that will be really nice, I think. I've been working so hard for the past six years, it will be great to finally have a _life,_ once school’s finished.”

Jasper wasn't ready for this conversation to end. Not when she was starting to actually talk about herself.

“Why are you so obsessed with having good grades? You would pass every subject easily without all the effort that you put in, but instead, you work your ass off all the time to be top of the class. Are you a perfectionist, Miss Brandon?”

His voice sounded teasingly once more.

Alice was looking at him with a strange expression all of a sudden, and Jasper wondered if he had said something wrong. Maybe this was a tricky topic for her.

But before he could think about whether to apologize again and tell her that it was really none of his business, she scratched her head and replied honestly: “I think, the reason why I'm so obsessed with being good at school is, that I feel like I have to work harder than anyone else to deserve my place here. I am a _Mudblood_ after all. If I sucked at school, people would just say that it makes sense, because I don’t come from a family of Witches and Wizards. I never wanted to give them the satisfaction.”

Her smile was almost bitter.

Jasper stared at her with a horrified expression. Was _this_ how she saw herself? The word _Mudblood_ was one of the worst insults some of the Slytherins could think of and hearing her call herself one didn't seem right.

He himself – who was technical a Pure-Blood, had he cared for such matters – had never wasted one thought about Alice being muggle-born, it had just never been an issue for him.

“Don't call yourself _that_.”, he said fiercely. “You _are_ a witch; it doesn't matter where you come from. You don't have to do _anything_ to deserve your place here, it's what you are. Don't ever feel like you don't belong if you don't work hard enough.”

His passionate outburst surprised Alice.

She had never thought he would see it this way. Obviously, she knew that Jasper had never judged her for coming from a family of Muggles and that it had never seemed to bother him. But still, the fact that he defended her heritage so passionately was a surprise to her.

“Well, thank you. I had no idea you saw it this way. It's silly, I know, but it was just this feeling that I couldn't really shake, no matter what I did.”

“After six years of being one of the brightest switches in our class, one would think that there wasn't any doubt left in your mind that you belonged here. Also, you know, with you being a Prefect and the Head Girl, and all that, I would have never imagined you felt this way. Has this something to do with Lewis, and what he said to you in our fifth year? Or did someone else say something about this to you?”

Jasper felt like he was going to have to kill someone if that was the case.

He had promised himself to _not_ fight with Lewis this year because he knew that Alice would not take kindly to it. But if the Slytherin was responsible for making Alice feel this way, then he felt like he had no choice.

No one should be allowed to make Alice feel this way.

She seemed to feel his irritation because she hurried to explain. “No, I think it's just something that I've always felt, as soon as I learned that there were some people that came from different bloodlines than mine and learning about the history of magic and all that. And it's not _just_ that, believe it or not, I actually _like_ having good grades, and sort of enjoy studying too.”

She made sure to say the rest of the sentence quite cheerfully and Jasper visibly relaxed a little.

At that moment, Alice realized that they had been standing in front of the library for more than five minutes.

While glancing down at her watch, she said: “Well, maybe we should go in and get this tutoring lesson over with.”

Truthfully, it was making her a bit uncomfortable to talk about such a delicate topic with Whitlock. It was very personal and seemed like something she should not be telling him at this very early point of their friendship.

Jasper realized that the conversation was over and mentally sighed in defeat.

He nodded and motioned her to walk through the door before him, like a gentleman (or at least, so he hoped). “Alright, let's do this.”

She gave him a shy smile and entered the library. Jasper followed her to the desks next to the bookshelves where the schoolbooks were located.

Their students were already there - namely Tanya Denali, Peter Carrigan, and Jacob Black. He knew all of them from classes they’d had together in the past, but wasn't friends with any of them.

Too late, he realized that he didn't even know which topic they were supposed to tutor. When he glanced at Alice questioningly, she grinned as if she had expected him to ask that exact question way sooner.

“Potions and Charms.” She was mouthing it in his direction and Jasper chuckled.

“You'll take potions, I'll take charms? Which one is which?”, he asked, pointing in the direction of their students.

“Tanya and Jacob need help with their Potions homework, while Peter doesn't really know how to cast the spells that they are talking about in class right now, maybe you can teach him. I thought, since you are better at Charms and I'm better at Potions, this would work quite well. Also, Peter seems to like you.”

Jasper nodded and couldn't help but agree with her.

While he was good at Potions, Alice was better. At the same time, she just wasn't on the same level at Charms as him.

She had really thought this through, he had to give it to her. And while he didn't like it that they would have to split up for the tutoring lesson, he also knew that there was no other way of doing this. After all, neither Jasper nor Alice needed any help with those subjects, and it wasn’t about them.

“Alright, sounds like a plan, Brandon.” Jasper gave her a beaming smile, still happy that they would have to do this every Saturday from now on for the next couple of weeks, giving him more time with her.

Maybe they could walk together every time, getting him the chance he’d wanted to get to know her.

He had already been so surprised about her confession earlier that had been entirely new to him. How did he not notice that she had been feeling this way before? What else was there that he didn’t know about her?

Alice smiled at him, too, although not as enthusiastically, and walked over to their students, greeting them.

“Okay”, she said. “Who's ready for some Potions homework?”

Her question was directed at Tanya and Jacob, both of whom groaned with little enthusiasm. The dark-haired witch grinned, sat down next to them, and opened her book, ready to begin.

Jasper took the next table next to hers and asked Peter to come over, opening his own book in turn. The lesson should take an hour from what Alice had told him previously, and maybe he would get a chance to talk to her afterward once more.

Over the next period of time, both the Head Boy and the Head Girl found themselves deeply involved in their task to teach their students what they needed to know. Jasper started to surprisingly enjoy himself after a while, with Peter being not only a good listener but also being quite friendly in general. Jasper wondered why they had never really hung out before because he did like the other boy quite a lot.

But despite him being determined to do a good job at this tutoring lesson, Jasper couldn't help himself getting distracted every once in a while while looking over at Alice.

She was completely absorbed in the conversation she had with Tanya and Jacob, clearly forgetting her surroundings completely. Not even Jasper and Peter’s occasional laughter would rouse her from her state of focus.

She looked more than pretty like this, completely preoccupied in the tutoring, her forehead frowning at times like she was thinking deeply about something.

Jasper, once more, found himself realizing that it wasn't really much of a surprise for anybody that she had been appointed Head Girl.

It was like she was born for the job. She was responsible and she was smart, and people liked her. At the same time, she was also thriving in helping others. Yes, Jasper decided. It made perfect sense.

But even better right now was the fact that every once in a while, - admittedly, it didn't happen that often - Alice would look up from her conversation or her book and meet his eyes. Her expression was always friendly, and, once, she even gave him a small smile before focusing on Tanya again.

Jasper knew that it would take a long time for her to really open up to him, after having loathed him for such a long time.

But it felt like they were on a good way.


	9. Werewolves

**~*~**

**7.**

Monday, October 3, 1977

Monday was, as usual, very depressing.

Not only had the weather changed again and it was raining cats and dogs, completely ruining the Marauders plans to spend the afternoon outside, but it also seemed to drag on eternally. Even the subjects Jasper usually enjoyed were quite dull today.

It got even worse when his fourth period started: Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was normally – with Charms – not only his best but also his favourite subject.

Today, however, Professor Zafrina had chosen a topic that made his toes curl: Werewolves.

Not, that Jasper had any problem with the topic itself or werewolves in general. He was, after all, best friends with one.

But one look at Seth and he knew this was not going to go down well. Seth was sitting frozen in his chair, looking like he was going to drop dead in a second, so shocked was he when their Professor announced the content of today’s lesson.

Jasper, unfortunately, didn’t sit next to Moony to be able to try to calm him down. He could see that Seth’s hands were holding onto the tabletop for dear life because his fingers and knuckles had turned white. He was always like this whenever someone even mentioned the word “werewolf”, because he was terrified of people finding out the truth about him.

He hadn’t even told Jasper, Emmett, and Ben voluntarily about it, but they had been close enough friends and therefore obviously paid more attention to his behaviour and monthly disappearances than the other Hogwarts students, so naturally, they had figured out his secret after a while.

Jasper didn’t want to sound arrogant, but he was well aware that especially he and Emmett were also quite a lot smarter than the average student at their school.

So, it wasn’t really a surprise that nobody had figured out Seth’s secret apart from them. He knew that Professor McGonagall suspected that something was going on, and even Bella had thrown Seth the occasional suspicious glance or two over the last couple of days, but it was unlikely that they _knew_.

But still, it was something entirely different to talk about this topic in class.

When Professor Zafrina started talking about the characteristics of werewolves, Seth looked positively terrified and like he was going to pass out.

Jasper knew he had to do something. He raised his hand.

“Yes, Mr. Whitlock?” Professor Zafrina called on him immediately. “Do you have a question?”

He shook his head, pretending to feel miserable. “I think I’m going to be sick, Professor. May I go to the bathroom?”

Everyone was staring at him, but Jasper didn’t really care. He locked eyes with Seth and the other boy understood immediately. Professor Zafrina gave him a worried glance.

“Of course. Mr. Alistair, could you accompany Mr. Whitlock to the bathroom?”

Garett was already rising in his seat when Jasper shook his head again. “Professor, can’t one of my friends…”

He didn’t even have to finish his sentence, because Seth already chimed in. “I’ll go with him, Professor.”

Professor Zafrina looked relieved and nodded, motioning for Garett to sit down again, which he did seemingly disappointed that he wouldn’t miss any school time. Jasper and Seth grabbed their bags and headed for the exit.

As soon as the door slammed shut behind them and they had walked far enough to be out of hearing distance, Seth raised his eyebrows, shooting Jasper a look. “You don’t actually feel sick, do you?”

The blond Head Boy rolled his eyes. “Of course not. You, my friend, on the other hand, looked absolutely miserable there. I thought it would be best to bail for the rest of the lesson.”

Seth nodded, having expected this reply. He gave his friend a warm look. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Jasper shrugged it off but realized that his friend’s worries were not going to disappear only because they left the classroom.

“Nobody’s going to find out. Even if they did pay attention in class, none of these idiots is smart enough to connect the dots. They won’t know.”

His friend did not appear to be convinced. “You guys figured it out.”

Jasper grinned encouragingly. “Well, we’re smarter than these people.”

Seth laughed but did not argue with him. “I guess that’s true. God, I wish it didn’t have to be like this. I’m sick of this fear that eventually everyone is going to find out what I am and will hate me. Imagine it. Parents would go mental if they found out that their children have been going to school with a werewolf!”

As usual, he shuddered at the word werewolf as if he wasn’t one himself and rather was scared of it.

Jasper felt like he knew why. The Transformation to an Animagi was painful, but not overly so. He knew it was worse for Moony; turning into a werewolf looked like agony compared to Jasper, Emmett, and Ben’s pain.

“No one is going to find out, Moony.” He would repeat it until Seth believed him. “We’ve pulled this off for six years now and nobody got even close.” He stopped, correcting himself. “Well, apart from _James_. But he had to swear that he wouldn’t say anything and since he kind of owes me his life, I don’t think he’ll ever talk. Trust me, he doesn’t want people knowing that.”

To other people, it would seem strange that Jasper was so sure that James would never talk about this incident because he was afraid of people finding out that the Quidditch Captain saved his life, rather than the fact that his friend was a werewolf, but it made perfect sense to them.

There was nothing and no one in the world that James hated more than Jasper, so that would actually be the worst thing that could happen to him. The Slytherin’s pride was more important to him than the desire to inform the world that Seth was a werewolf.

God, how much Jasper hated James; he was so ridiculous and pathetic.

But he threw one look at Seth and realized that the other boy still didn’t seem to believe him. He patted him on the shoulder encouragingly. “Lighten up, Moony. It’s weeks until the next full moon. Nobody will remember anything about what they’ve learned today in class until then. I think you’re safe.”

Seth sighed. He knew that Jasper was probably right, but the matter was always tricky for him. It wasn’t his fault that he was a werewolf, he had been bitten when he was very young, but he still felt strangely guilty about it.

Especially since all of his friends had started to get themselves in danger so that he wouldn’t have to spend full moons alone.

“I appreciate it, Mane.”, he said with a half-smile. “I just don’t like it, you know. Putting all of you at risk… and being afraid that people will find out what I am.”

Jasper grinned. “Don’t you worry about us. We’re very capable of looking after ourselves if you hadn’t noticed.”

Then, they had to shut up, because walking toward them in the hallway was Professor McGonagall. Jasper went back to pretending to feel awful.

“What on _earth_ are you two doing out of class, Whitlock, and Clearwater?”

“Jasper wasn’t feeling very well, so we went to the bathroom, Professor.”, Seth hurried to reply.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, looking at Jasper and clearly not believing a word Seth just said. “You don’t look that unwell, Mr. Whitlock.”

Jasper met her eye unflinchingly. “Yes, I think it was just food poisoning. I felt much better after it… got out.” He pretended to be embarrassed and apparently it was working because McGonagall sniffed her nose in what appeared to be disgust.

“You better not be jumping around outside later, Whitlock. I will keep an eye out.” She sighed, clearly resigned. “Fine. Go back to your dormitory and do some extra studying. Merlin knows I want you to be healthy for this year’s Quidditch tournament. You may accompany Whitlock, Mr. Clearwater.”

She dismissed them.

They walked on, now changing their direction and heading to the Astronomy Tower. They had walked in silence for a while when Seth asked: “What do you think she’ll do if she catches us again the next time? I felt like she let us off rather easily last time. Especially you, with your tutoring with Brandon. That seemed more like a reward than a punishment.”

He grinned.

Jasper laughed. “You know what, I felt so, too. Although Brandon was pretty pissed when I told her about it. Seemed more like a punishment for _her_ than me.”

Seth joined his friend in his laughter, but asked, still with that grin on his face: “What could Brandon possibly have done to deserve punishment? Handed in an essay _only_ one day before the deadline was up?”

Jasper roared at his joke. “Come on, Brandon would _never_! She’s a good girl, that one.”

They grinned at each other again, before Seth turned more serious again. “Speaking of Brandon, how was that first tutoring lesson? You haven’t really said anything about it. Was she annoyed?”

The Head Boy shook his head. “It was… nice, actually. We walked there together and had another really pleasant conversation on the way. I think I’m sort of growing on her.”

He winked and Seth laughed.

“I hope for your sake that you’re right about this, but I wouldn’t count on it. You have really been trying hard this year and she’s definitely noticed, but maybe don’t get your hopes up too high. It would be a real miracle if she overcame all of these years of animosity and suddenly decided to go out with you.”

Jasper raised his hand in fake innocence. “Woah, slow down. No one said anything about _dating_ right now. I’m just trying to get her to trust me a little. And then, once I’ve achieved that, I’ll just ask her to marry me.”

The joke came out sounding more like a fact and they both chuckled.

“Sure, that’ll work.” Seth’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Don’t you have faith in my ability to woe the ladies, Seth?” Jasper pretended to be insulted.

The other grinned. “I have the utmost faith in that. You can make any girl drool over you in a heartbeat. Just not Brandon. That might be an impossible nut to crack, even for you, Mane.”

“Challenge accepted.”, was Jasper’s grinning reply.

They had climbed the stairs up to the Astronomy Tower and were standing in front of the portrait of the silver mermaid now. Jasper gave her the password, just as Moony asked: “When is the next full moon, exactly?”

“The 27th, I think.”, Jasper answered just as the boys climbed through the portrait hole. He was walking ahead and stopped dead in his tracks, making Seth crash into his back.

“Ow, what…?”

“Brandon!”, Jasper exclaimed loudly so that Seth would definitely know not to mention their last topic again.

Alice had looked up from her spot on the windowsill and was looking at them suspiciously. In her hand – as usual – a book.

“What are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be in class?”

Jasper gave her a wide smile. “I could ask you the same question. Actually, I wasn’t feeling well and Professor McGonagall ordered me to go back to my dormitory.”

Alice’s eyes narrowed, scanning him up and down looking for any signs of that apparent illness. Clearly she couldn’t find any, because she raised her eyebrow.

Jasper didn’t bat an eyelid. “I’m feeling much better already.”

He bit back the second part of the sentence that had crossed his mind just now: now that I’ve seen you.

“Well, I’m glad.” Her voice was sarcastic, indicating that she didn’t believe a word he was saying. “And to answer your question, I’ve got a free period right now, so I’m allowed to be here.”

She sounded almost defensive and Jasper had to grin.

“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t implying you were doing anything _illegal_ or something. I was just wondering.” Jasper’s tone was very friendly, but Alice for some reason still blushed.

To distract from it, she asked: “What were you talking about when you got in here? What’s on the 27th?”

Jasper and Seth stared at each other in shock for the fraction of a second, before reigning in their expression.

“Eh, Quidditch practice?” Jasper offered, but it sounded more like a question.

Alice didn’t seem convinced at all. She gave him another wary look, before shrugging and returning her attention to her book. “Fine.”

Jasper exhaled in relief. Thankfully, she either seemed to have no idea when Quidditch practice usually took place – on Wednesdays, while the 27th was a Thursday, or she had just decided to not believe them but didn’t really care about what they were hiding.

Either way, Seth’s secret was safe once more.


	10. Conversations

_**~*~** _

_**6.** _

_Wednesday, October 5, 1977_

The next two days were strange.

For some reason, the easy, friendly way they had been acting around each other during the tutoring lesson was gone and replaced by something else.

Neither Alice nor Jasper were used to being _friends_ , so whenever they saw each other – which wasn’t that often, because Alice had to work on her homework in the library and Jasper had promised his friends to finally go down to Hagrid’s or was otherwise occupied – things were quite awkward between them.

On Jasper’s side, mostly because he was so worried that he would say something that would put her off, as he usually did in Brandon’s presence.

With other girls, Jasper would always know what he had to say to charm the pants off them. He was usually very good at flirting. Not that he ever had to make an effort: the vast majority of girls happened to _already_ be into him without him even trying.

But this was _Brandon_.

The same person who always seemed to go through the roof whenever he opened his mouth to address her. These last couple of years, it hadn’t mattered _what_ he’d said. Once, she’d snapped at him when he’d asked her whether she didn’t also think that the weather was excellent today.

So, needless to say, Jasper was intimidated by her. Their friendship was so new and fragile, and he certainly wasn’t going to risk it by saying something stupid.

Alice, on the other hand, was not used to feeling nervous in Whitlock’s presence. This had _never_ happened before the start of this school year and now it was happening pretty consistently.

Her feelings confused her. Was she nervous because she was beginning to let her guard down? Perhaps this whole thing was just another dumb prank that Whitlock and his friends had concocted to humiliate her after all.

She knew that that was nonsensical but couldn’t help herself from feeling like she was somehow going against her better instincts. Alice had grown up with a sense of wariness when it came to Jasper Whitlock. Whenever he’d been too nice, he’d usually been up to something, and none of it had ever been good.

So she was still slightly suspicious of this “truce” that she felt like they’d agreed upon.

Sure, she had phrased it as “being friends”, but it felt more like a truce than anything else.

Alice sensed it was probably impossible to go from despising someone to being friends in such a short period.

At the same time, she was kind of waiting for the whole thing to blow up in her face.

What was most unsettling about the situation was something else, though.

Over the last month, but mostly since their conversation after the Quidditch try-outs, Alice had started to notice things about Whitlock that she’d never realized before. One prime example of this was how _charming_ he could be.

Not to her, though, not really. He seemed to be a little uncomfortable in her presence like he – not unlike her – was trying to figure out where exactly this was going.

But he was charming to _other_ people. The first time she’d noticed it was on the Tuesday after Quidditch try-outs during the only class they had together this year, Muggle Studies. 

They had to work in pairs, summarizing, and discussing a paragraph from the textbook. Naturally, they were both paired up with other people, Alice with Mike Newton and Jasper with Heidi Bailey.

Since both Alice’s parents _were_ Muggles and Mike Newton was a half-blood, the subject had never been difficult for either of them and they’d finished the task before anyone else in the class.

For some reason, Alice had then started to throw occasional glances at Jasper’s table and – to her surprise – had seen that he and Heidi seemed to be involved in what looked like a deep, meaningful conversation about something.

It probably hadn’t been about school, from the looks of it, because Heidi appeared to be truly upset about something, and Jasper had been trying to calm her down. In the beginning, she’d seemed to be close to crying, but by the end of it, Heidi was even attempting a small smile. She seemed relieved and almost… _grateful_.

A few weeks ago, Alice would never have believed that Whitlock would take the time to _comfort_ someone, let alone be good at it. But it kind of made sense paired with her previous observation at the Quidditch try-outs: Jasper Whitlock was _good_ with people.

Over the last few years, Alice had always wondered why he was so popular with their fellow students.

She’d always assumed it had been the fact that he was so good at Quidditch or maybe his good looks (even though _she’d_ never been attracted to him, she hadn’t been able to fool herself into _not_ noticing that other people seemed to think he was handsome).

Or perhaps she’d just thought that it was because he was _fun_. He joked around, played pranks on teachers and other students, and generally had an overall entertaining personality.

But the more she started to pay attention, the more she observed that those weren’t his only qualities and that he was, in fact, good with people. Everybody seemed to like and trust him, his Quidditch teammates adored him and even teachers were easily charmed by him.

How did she miss that all these years, Alice wondered?

Probably because she’d always been immune to his charm. The first time she’d spoken to him had been about her former best friend James Lewis in their first year at Hogwarts.

Jasper and James had loathed each other from the moment they’d laid eyes on one another at the Hogwarts Express. At that time, James and Alice had been thick as thieves, so naturally, he’d told her about the encounter and his dislike for the other boy. Alice had been prejudiced toward Jasper from that moment on.

And then, that first encounter had happened, about one week into the new school year. None of the students had had enough experience to cast a real spell at that time, but Jasper and James had already been at each other’s throats, pointing their wands at the other person and threatening each other.

Whitlock even then had been tall for his age and Alice had genuinely been worried about her best friend, should it come to a real fight.

Apparently, James had been the one to provoke Whitlock, even though he’d denied the accusations and had told Alice instead that Jasper had deliberately tripped him up.

She still didn’t know what the truth was, but she’d snarled at Jasper to leave her friend alone.

Whitlock in turn had been astonished, that Alice, who was a Gryffindor like himself, would passionately defend someone from Slytherin and had shot back a comment about fraternizing with the enemy that had made her laugh mockingly.

It went downhill from there.

For the first two years of their time at Hogwarts, Alice and Jasper seemed to hate each other almost as passionately as he and James did. They’d even had a couple of fights because Alice had always refused to stand idly by when Whitlock and McCarty had once more picked on some poor soul, whether it was James or somebody else.

But then for some reason, their dynamic had shifted. Jasper had stopped drawing his wand on her when she did and had even let her hex him a few times without really fighting back.

No matter what Alice had done, it hadn’t seemed to faze him anymore. It was like his hatred for her had disappeared into thin air from one day to the next.

It had still taken a while until he had started the annoying habit of asking her out, but it had still baffled her when it happened. Alice had still considered him a bully, especially because he’d never stopped fighting James or even other people like he’d done with her. It had made no sense for her to be the exception – the only person who he just _wouldn’t_ fight back against – and yet, that was how it had been.

Therefore, she’d been so shocked when he’d first asked her on a date. Nothing had changed for _her_. Whitlock might have been enlightened about something to do with her, but Alice was still at the same place she’d been since she’d met him: she despised him.

So naturally, she’d assumed it was just all a big joke or some kind of prank to humiliate her. And perhaps that’s exactly what it had been.

And her attitude about it hadn’t changed at all for the next couple of years. No matter how many times Jasper had asked her to go out with him – always with that crooked grin on his face that she’d felt was to mock her – she’d never once doubted that he wasn’t truly interested in her.

Truthfully, she’d always suspected that the only reason he’d been asking _her_ of all people, had been because Whitlock knew it would make James go absolutely _berserk_.

Few things were dead certain in this world, but one of them had to be that Jasper Whitlock and James Lewis were archenemies like nobody had ever seen.

And Jasper’s calculation had been clever, too, Alice had always thought. Whitlock had been _one hundred percent_ right about the fact that James would hate nothing more in the world than Alice going out with Jasper. Hell, even s _he_ knew for sure that Lewis would never, ever forgive her if she did.

Not that there had ever been any danger of that, though.

For a brief moment, Alice felt herself wondering how James would feel now, once he found out that she and Jasper had actually talked about becoming friends, but she pushed the thought back.

It didn’t matter what James thought. He wasn’t her best friend anymore and she no longer owed him anything, let alone an explanation about _this_.

But deep-down Alice knew that he might not even forgive her for just being friends with Whitlock.

“Alice? Are you still with us?”

Bella’s voice brought her back to reality. It was lunchtime and they were at their usual seats of the Gryffindor table in the crowded Great Hall. Bella had apparently been waving her hand in front of her eyes for a while because she saw the brunette put it down.

“Sorry, I must have been daydreaming.”, she explained embarrassedly.

Bella only smirked knowingly. Rosalie and Edward were sitting with them, too, but the bronze-haired boy wasn’t really involved in their conversations because he was looking down at his open Herbology book and scribbling notes on a piece of parchment.

He’d explained that he had to finish a paper before their next period because he’d gotten into trouble for falling asleep during the lesson on Monday. It was no secret that Edward found school very tedious, and it was mostly because he was constantly whining about it.

“What are you going to wear on your date with Benjamin, Alice? Have you thought about that yet?”, Rosalie asked her at that moment, glad to finally have the Head Girl’s attention back.

Alice couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She was pretty excited about that weekend even though it was still two weeks away, not only because she longed to go to Hogsmeade to go shopping, but also because of her date with Benjamin.

She had seen him a few times this week and it had always been lovely to talk to him. He was very sweet and gentlemanly, opening doors for her and pulling chairs, but also generally great to hang out with. He’d also told her about the Hufflepuff Quidditch try-outs, which had apparently been almost as chaotic as the Gryffindor ones.

He’d even walked her to her classes a couple of times, ignoring the other students staring at them. It seemed as though everybody at school expected them to end up together sooner or later.

Alice found that she wouldn’t mind that so much.

“I thought, I’d wear that green dress I bought last month, what do you think?” Her tone was questioning, but Rose nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s a great idea, you look so hot in that one!”

Alice almost blushed. It still felt nice, getting compliments from Rosalie Hale, the incarnation of beauty herself.

“You wear that dress and Benjamin will fall in love with you faster than you can say hippogriff.” Bella could help but agree with the blonde. She’d been with them when they’d bought that dress last month at Twilfitt and Tatting's in Diagon Alley.

Alice could see Edward rolling his eyes over his parchment. She ignored him.

“I’m not sure I _want_ him to fall in love with me”, she said timidly.

Alice hadn’t really thought about that at this point _,_ because they hadn’t even been on a date yet. And in truth, she didn’t really want anyone to fall in love with her that quickly, because in the past she had never been able to reciprocate the feelings after such a short while.

At least that was what had happened the two other times she’d seriously gone out with someone.

“Ah, come on. Eventually, someone will sweep you off your feet, Ali.” Bella smirked.

She was a hopeless romantic. Maybe Alice would be the same way if she’d had such a stable, loving relationship such as Bella and Edward’s for the last four years.

Rosalie pretended to throw up in her mouth.

“I don’t believe in it. This ‘love-at-first-sight’ stuff is nonsense. You can be attracted to someone at first sight and want to rip their clothes off, but love? No, that just doesn’t happen!”

Bella looked at her indignantly. “Of course it happens. Or how else do you explain what happened to Professor Cullen and Professor Platt?”

Alice grinned. It had been the only story the whole school had talked about when it happened two years ago. Professor of _Study of Ancient Runes_ Carlisle Cullen and Professor Esme Platt who taught Care of Magical Creatures had met on the Hogwarts Express when both of them were on supervision duty.

It had been Professor Platt’s first year at Hogwarts and she hadn’t been familiar with the rules. They’d run into each other in the aisle of the train and it had been, as Bella had described “love at first sight”.

They’d gotten married last year, and students sometimes found them sneaking around like teenagers in the school hallways.

“ _Disgusting_ , is what I call that.”, retaliated Rosalie expertly and Alice couldn’t help but laugh. Even the corners of Edward’s mouth were twitching at that.

“What’s disgusting?”, interjected another voice and the group of friends turned their heads in the direction of the speaker.

The Marauders had entered the Great Hall, looking like some sort of sexy boy band (well at least Jasper and Emmett did, and Seth might have, had he not looked like he hadn’t slept in two weeks), and McCarty was heading straight for Rosalie’s seat. The others followed behind at a short distance, seeming a bit more unsure about their destination.

“That outfit you’re wearing, McCarty. Please, in the name of Merlin’s Beard tell me that is _not_ our new Quidditch uniform!” Rosalie’s reply was dry as the desert.

She’d always had a very sarcastic sense of humour. Many students at Hogwarts were quite prejudiced about her being another dumb blonde because of her obviously stunning and gorgeous appearance, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, she was very quick-witted.

McCarty roared with laughter. “Ouch. What’s gotten your wand in a knot, baby?”

He had made his way over to her side and she was willingly moving aside so that he could sit down next to her.

Jasper watched them for a moment and couldn’t help himself but grinning. Despite their constant bickering, they were good together. Both were fun-loving, witty, and really quite talented at getting whatever it was they wanted.

Oh, and stubborn as fuck.

He’d love to see them end up together at some point. He loved his best friend like a brother and only wanted what was best for him, but sometimes Jasper couldn’t help but think that Emmett needed someone to tame him a little. And who would be better for that than Rosalie, who looked as though she could pull off a job as an animal trainer if she wanted to.

Internally, he had to grin. Well, she wouldn’t be _that_ far off.

He shook his head slightly to get rid of the thought, just as Rosalie replied: “You, McCarty. It’s always you.”

Emmett purposely misunderstood her. “Aw, I know you love me, darling.”, The reply was teasing, and he gave her a lewd wink for good measure.

Rosalie actually blushed at that and, for once, didn’t have a good comeback ready.

Jasper realized that he, Ben, and Seth were still standing around kind of awkwardly in the aisle between theirs and Ravenclaw’s table and decided to put on his usual confident demeanour.

Smoothly, he sat down on top of the table between Alice and Bella, so that he was facing them. He was quite sure that many other girls would have been close to fainting at this proximity to him (Yes, he knew he was handsome), but Alice just looked kind of irritated and for one second he worried again that he’d _already_ managed to screw it up with her.

Not going to let that happen, he asked her in a – hopefully – neutral, but friendly voice: “How’s your essay coming along, Brandon?”

They hadn’t stopped calling each other by their last names, but instead of distancing, it felt more playful now.

Alice was genuinely surprised that he was addressing her in such a casual way in front of everybody. Sure, they had talked a few times since the Quidditch try-outs last week, but never really with other people present.

She wasn’t even sure if the others were aware of their “truce”, because she herself, hadn’t told anybody about it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Bella gave him an astonished look.

Clearly, they hadn’t been aware, then.

“Arithmancy, fine, I’ve handed that in last week. It’s my Transfiguration homework I’m worried about.”, she replied politely.

She recalled telling him about her essay sometime last week when he’d gotten back from a special Quidditch practice and they’d chatted about it for a few minutes before going back to their respective rooms.

“I can help you with that if you like.” Jasper offered.

Transfiguration was kind of an area of expertise for him after all. He could see Seth flinch out of the corner of an eye, while Emmett was smirking widely.

“Yeah, _Mane_ here is kind of adept in the art of _Transfiguration_ , isn’t he?”, he said, winking at Jasper who felt like punching his friend in the face right now, and shot him an angry, incredulous look, but had to leave it at that since they were not alone.

Alice gave him a strange look like she was trying to figure out what that meant.

Jasper racked his brain for something to say to change the topic, but before he could, Rosalie beat him to it: “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”, Jasper said quickly. “I just like the subject, that’s all.”

Alice didn’t seem convinced, but Rosalie shrugged. “Fine, whatever.”

She turned back to Emmett and they started talking about the first Quidditch match that would take place in November. Jasper was glad about the change of topic and listened to their conversation for a while, vowing to speak to Emmett later.

It was – of course – absolutely forbidden for them to be _unregistered_ Animagi and whenever his dark-haired best friend made innuendos like that, it was more than just a little dangerous. If anybody found out about this, he had no doubt they would be expelled and probably even put to trial in the Ministry of Magic for abusing their abilities.

Truthfully though, it was once more Seth that he was worried about. Once _they_ were discovered, it was possible that people would also find out what _Seth_ was… and that was far more dangerous.

Jasper gazed at the Slytherin table, his eyes resting on James for a second.

Then, looking back to his own table, he exchanged a glance with Seth who was still awkwardly standing next to them. Seth had been just as nervous about the topic as Jasper had, and the blond Head Boy tried to reassure him with his eyes. Seth nodded at him shortly.

When Jasper looked back at the others, he realized that Alice was still staring at him.

When their eyes met, she looked down like he’d caught her doing something illegal and her cheeks flushed beautifully. It was impossible for him to look away.

After a second, Alice realized that it would be even sillier to completely avoid looking at him altogether and raised her head once more, holding his gaze. He and Emmett were in fact wearing their Quidditch robes, but despite Rosalie’s snippy comment, he didn’t look _disgusting_ in them at all.

She decided to distract herself from that thought before it could go any further: “It would actually be lovely if you could help me with my homework. I’m pretty worried about the N.E.W.T. at the end of this year and I don’t want to fall behind after only a few weeks.”

This had to be the first time she’d ever asked Whitlock for help. A few weeks ago, she would’ve bitten her tongue rather than asking him, but they were “friends” now, so she could, right? There was nothing wrong with asking a friend for help with homework.

Jasper was more than just a little surprised at her words. He’d never expected her to take him up on his offer.

“Yeah, sure. Of course. Whenever you want.” He said, sounding way too eagerly about the whole matter than was appropriate.

Alice felt herself regretting her decision already. God, she was hoping he didn’t actually think of this as any sort of _date_. She had a reputation to uphold after all.

Bella was looking back and forth between them. She had no idea what was going on.

What had she missed? Never had she seen Jasper and Alice have a normal, friendly conversation like this. But clearly, there was something else going on here. They were kind of uneasy in each other’s presence and not in the usual about-to-start-screaming-at-each-other kind of way.

Jasper could see that Brandon was starting to get uncomfortable again and was trying to find something to say to ease the tension. Before he could think of anything, he saw Maria De Luz walking toward him with determined steps.

For some reason, he didn’t feel like talking to her now, but it was irrelevant. Maria came to a stop in front of their group, completely ignoring Ben and Seth and smiled at him confidently.

“Hey, Jazz.” She was one of the only people calling him that. “I was wondering if you still wanted to hang out with me on Saturday as we’ve talked about? We could go down to the Great Lake and you could show me that spot, remember?”

Her voice was sweet but there was an underlying tone that he couldn’t really interpret right now.

He was racking his brain trying to remember what _spot_ she was talking about and when exactly he’d asked her to hang out with him this Saturday but couldn’t remember anything.

“Oh, yeah… _sure_ , why not.” His reply came out without him thinking about it further and he found himself looking back at Alice, feeling her eyes on him.

Her expression was unreadable, but Jasper was almost sure he saw something like anger flare up in her eyes for a second. It confused him. Why would Alice be angry about this?

“Eh… Jasper?” Alice’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. She _definitely_ sounded pissed.

Maria reluctantly turned her attention to Alice and so did the rest of their group. Even Emmett and Rosalie had stopped talking to each other and were eyeing the situation with interest.

Jasper was still trying to figure out what the Head Girl was thinking.

She raised her eyebrows like she was waiting for him to remember something very obvious, but nothing came to mind.

“Yes?” Jasper was absolutely clueless what he’d done this time.

The dark-haired witch rolled her eyes in exasperation as if to say _what a bloody idiot_ , and continued: “The _tutoring_?”

The annoyance in her voice was thick.

Jasper actually did feel stupid all of a sudden. How could he have forgotten _that_? It was another whole afternoon with Brandon after all… he should be thrilled. But somehow, he’d completely blanked.

He also felt stupid, because for one second it had crossed his mind that maybe Alice was jealous of Maria and didn’t want him to hang out with her.

Yeah, right. As though that would ever happen.

“Oh!”, he got out, before turning to Maria again, who looked properly irritated now. “Shit, you’re right, I forgot about that. Sorry, Maria, I can’t on Saturday. I have to do tutoring again, with Brandon. It’s a detention thing and it’s every Saturday for the next couple of weeks.”

Maria didn’t seem convinced and pressed her lips together tightly, looking at Alice for the first time with open hostility.

Great, Jasper thought, so now _Maria_ was jealous. Exactly the kind of drama he didn’t need.

Alice didn’t bat an eyelid. She realized that Maria was probably quite intimidating to some people, but she couldn’t care less.

For some reason, she even felt a little _smug_ when she saw the obviously jealous expression on the other girl’s face. What the hell?

Maria seemed to think about saying something to her but then hesitated, closed her mouth, and went back to ignoring her again, instead looking back at Jasper.

“Well, that’s a shame.” She put a special emphasis on every word. “I was looking forward to it. You’ll have to make it up to me sometime, Jazz.”

It didn’t sound like a question, more like a demand. At the same time, it sounded highly suggestive and he could see from the corner of his eyes how Alice’s eyebrow shot up.

Not really knowing what else to say, Jasper just nodded. That seemed to appease Maria a little and she gave him another smile.

“See you around!” She winked and walked away, throwing her hair in her neck.

Even those three words sounded sexual coming from her mouth.

Jasper felt himself relax and realized for the first time that his whole body had been tense for the last couple of minutes. It felt strange, having both Alice and Maria in such close proximity to him. He was quite sure they didn’t really know each other and had certainly never been anything such as friends, but it was still weird.

After a second, he noted that all the others were looking at him.

“ _What_?”

Bella, Edward (who had at some point finally looked up from his parchment, too) and Alice immediately looked away in opposite directions, but Rosalie and Emmett gave him a questioning look. Rosalie’s was more amused and Emmett’s… Emmett’s was positively _lewdly_.

“Uh oh, _Jazz_.” He imitated the way Maria had used his nickname and winked seductively.

Jasper glared at him and got very close to throwing Edward’s Herbology book at his friend.

But that had never stopped Emmett McCarty from anything. “Looks like you’re in _deep water_ here.”

“Ah, just shut up, Claws.”, he hissed back at his best friend and Emmett laughed, finally breaking the tension at the table.

Seth and Ben joined in and Jasper wanted to make a snippy comment about how _they_ had absolutely no right to be amused about his girl trouble, given that they’d never even gone out with one, but he stopped himself before he could.

That would be too mean, even for him. He was trying to behave himself, after all.

“Glad you’re having fun.”, he replied sarcastically instead, slipping back into his overly confident attitude easily, stretching out his legs between Alice and Bella.

The Head Girl was avoiding his eyes and seemed more interested in her fingernails all of a sudden. Jasper felt the need to say something to her – anything – but couldn’t find the words.

And then, he didn’t have the chance to anymore, because Alice looked up abruptly like she’d forgotten something and stared directly at Rosalie. The blonde didn’t seem to know what this was about either and gave her friend a questioning look.

“What is it?”, she asked.

Alice looked panicked all of a sudden. “Oh crap!”

The others were looking at her now. Alice pulled her bag from under the table and started to rummage around inside it. Jasper resisted the urge to ask what was wrong and try to calm her down.

“What is it, Ali?” Bella asked for him.

“I’ve forgotten my mortar and pestle for Potions in our common room and Slughorn will do that quiz today, testing if we can make the Herbicide Potion!”, Alice explained, still rummaging through her bag.

Edward chimed in for the first time, with a sceptical look on his face. “Are you sure? Because Slughorn said…-“

“I wouldn’t bet against Alice, if I were you, babe.” Bella was laughing now. Rosalie joined in and Jasper and Emmett looked at each other wondering what joke they’d missed.

“What does that mean?”, the blond Head Boy asked Alice, who looked up from her bag at the sound of his voice, blushing once again.

God, she thought, this was getting ridiculous.

“Nothing!”, she said, way too quickly.

Jasper raised an eyebrow. Clearly, there was some kind of story here, but she hadn’t probed him earlier about the whole Transfiguration thing, so he wasn’t going to now. He was very curious, though.

Perhaps someday in the – hopefully – near future, they would actually be good enough friends so that she would feel like she could tell him. It was something to work towards, he thought.

So, he just smiled at her and let it go.

Bella and Edward looked at each other with puzzlement on both their faces. What was going on here? Since when did Brandon and Whitlock seem so… _friendly_ with each other?

Bella grinned at her boyfriend and Edward could feel his mouth forming a smile, too.

She was onto something, he realized while watching her pretty features. There wasn’t a day where he wasn’t grateful for her, his sweet, kind, perceptive girlfriend.

He reached over the table to hold her hand and said: “Walk me to Potions, love?”

Bella nodded happily and turned her head toward Alice. “Are you coming, too?”

The Head Girl shook her head. “I need to get my mortar and pestle from the common room.”, she explained. “If I don’t make it in time, please tell Slughorn I’m so sorry.”

Emmett rolled his eyes. He couldn’t understand why Alice was always so concerned with punctuality and annoying things like that.

“Come on, Brandon!”, he sighed overdramatically. “Be late for once. You have to _embrace_ it. Live a little!”

Alice glared at him. “What, like _you_ , McCarty?”, she hissed back harsher than necessary. “No, thank you. Some of us actually have responsibilities, you know. As _Head Girl,_ I can’t afford to set a bad example for the other students.”

Jasper wondered if that was a skit at _him_ and Emmett certainly seemed to think so by the looks of it, but Alice immediately turned toward him and hurried to explain: “I wasn’t… that was not… I’m not saying that you… I meant no…”, she stuttered.

Jasper laughed at her guilty expression. “Don’t worry, Brandon. None taken. Some of us actually _can_ think of worse things than setting a bad example for the impressionable youth.”

He made sure to say it as kindly and as teasingly as possible and, because for some reason he felt pretty enthusiastically at the moment, winked at her for good measure.

Alice’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him. Did Whitlock just _wink_ at her? Was he _flirting_ with her? What the hell was happening here?

But Alice wasn’t the only one wondering about that.

Before she could even think about how to respond about that, Rosalie chimed in: “Okay, _what the fuck_ is going on here? Did we miss something? Why aren’t you guys trying to _murder_ each other right now?”

Clearly, she was voicing what everyone else was thinking.

Alice seemed to be too embarrassed to function at the moment, so Jasper turned toward the others and answered: “Brandon and I have decided to bury the hatchet and actually _try_ to get along for once.”

He avoided the word friends, because it looked like she hadn’t told the others about their conversation last week after the try-outs or their talk before tutoring on Saturday, and she seemed uncomfortable enough as it was.

Their friends were staring at him as though he’d just eaten his wand.

Rosalie’s mouth was hanging open and Bella looked like she was short-circuiting trying to figure out what was happening.

Emmett was the only one who wasn’t surprised because Jasper _had_ told him about last week.

He still wasn’t able to stop himself. “Well… miracles _do_ happen.”

__

_**~*~** _

__

Now that the Kneazle was out of the bag, so to speak, Alice prepared herself for the interrogation that was bound to happen. She hadn’t seen Rosalie for the rest of the day, but the moment she laid eyes on her friend in the Gryffindor common room that evening, she instantly knew her friend would not let this go.

“There you are!”, Rosalie called her over to the sofa next to the fireplace.

Alice walked over as slowly as humanly possible, trying to buy herself some time to think about what she was going to say.

The truth was, she had no idea how she was going to explain the situation.

Also, she would rather not do this here, because the common room was still fairly crowded and she didn’t want the whole world to know, but she knew that she didn’t really have a choice in the matter, and in the long run, this conversation was unavoidable.

“Hi” She greeted her friend and sat down next to her, feeling the blonde’s awaiting glance on her face all the while.

“ _What_?” Rosalie still hadn’t made a move after a while and Alice was getting tired of it.

She turned her head to look at the other girl and saw that Rose was grinning from ear to ear.

Mentally, she sighed.

“You know what!” Her friend said with a laugh. “I want to know the truth about what’s going on between you and Whitlock!”

Alice looked at the blonde witch with a horrified expression. “ _Nothing_ is going on between me and Whitlock!”

It came out almost like a shriek, making a few people look at her in bewilderment and not without curiosity.

Unfortunately, that made her cheeks blush once more, which most certainly wasn’t helping the argument she was trying to make.

“Nothing, eh?” Rosalie looked at her mischievously, obviously not believing a word she was saying.

Alice could feel herself starting to get irritated now. What was going on with everyone these past few days? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone about Whitlock? Nothing _was_ going on, after all. Not really.

For the first time, she felt herself wondering what it would feel like if there _was_.

She shook her head violently.

“Yes, nothing. As he said, we decided to agree on a sort of truce when we had that conversation I told you about after the try-outs, given that he’s Head Boy, I’m Head Girl and we actually do have to try to work together this year. I may even have used the word _friends_ in that context, but that’s it.”

It was enough to make Rosalie stare at her with incredulity, though. “I can’t believe you left that part out! You and Whitlock? _Friends_?”

“Believe me, I _know_!” Alice said dramatically. “I don’t really know what came over me when I suggested that. Whitlock’s probably going to screw it up anyway by doing something stupid because he just can’t help himself, but I kind of felt like it was a bit immature to still hold onto this grudge when even Dumbledore seems to think that we can get our shit together!”

Rosalie laughed. “You think Dumbledore knows about your feud with Whitlock?”

The dark-haired girl sighed. “Probably. Is there anyone at his school who doesn’t?”

Rosalie thought about that for a second and then shook her head. “Nope, I don’t think so. I guess, even the portraits and ghosts know.”

Alice glared at her and the blonde laughed again. “Ah, come on, Ali. Let me have my fun with this! Emmett is right after all: miracles do happen. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Fine. I’m sure, it’s hilarious to everybody else.” Alice’s voice was grumpy, ignoring Rosalie’s giggles.

“He seems determined to pull this off, though.”, she said when she’d calmed down and looked at her dark-haired friend again. “You were right before. He really is _trying_.”

“I know, right? And who am I to stand in the way of his betterment?” The Head Girl was now starting to become less reserved and could even joke about it. Rosalie chuckled.

“Exactly. And who knows, maybe you’ll even finally go on a date with him!”

Alice threw the sofa cushion directly at her face. Rosalie was shrieking with laughter and even the Head Girl couldn’t help herself but smile a little.

“I will _not_.” Her tone was dead serious, and she was putting an emphasis on each word, but she could tell that she wasn’t fooling Rosalie. Her friend actually saw right through her at that moment and _gasped_.

“Oh. My. God.”, the blonde exclaimed loudly, making a few other students look at them. Then, quieter, she added incredulously: “You actually _do_ like him.”

Again, Alice stared at her friend with sheer horror on her face. “I do not!”

“Liar. I saw the way you were looking at him during Quidditch try-outs!”, Rosalie shot back without missing a beat, and Alice wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She assumed her face looked like an overripe tomato at this point.

She’d had no idea it had been _that_ obvious.

Rosalie cut her some slack. “I can’t say I blame you, girl. Whitlock looked _hot,_ soaked with rain and mud in that Quidditch uniform!” She grinned because it _was_ the truth. “Did you see that spin he did with Emmett’s Beater’s bat?” She winked at Alice and mouthed the word “ _hot_ ” again.

Alice was still utterly horrified. No one could _ever_ know about this.

“Whitlock did not look _hot_ , in any kind of way, shape or form, Rosalie.” She realized she’d said that _way_ too loudly because a bunch of second-years were staring at her in astonishment from across the common room.

 _Damn it_.

Horrified again, she turned back to Rosalie. Every single instinct she had screamed at her to deny it all. “Maybe you should stop lusting after your Quidditch Captain and focus more on the actual game, Hale.”

Rosalie snorted, but her grin didn’t disappear. As if she was interested in Jasper. She wiggled her eyebrows, deciding to tease her friend further: “Why, are you jealous, Brandon?”

 _Deny, deny, deny_ , Alice mentally screamed at herself.

“Jealous? _Me_? About _Whitlock_? You’ve lost it.”

“Oh, so you weren’t jealous of the idea of Jasper showing Maria his _special spot_ at the Lake on Saturday earlier, weren’t you?”

Rosalie wasn’t nearly done. This was way too much fun.

Alice rolled her eyes, trying to get her expression under control again. If only that red of her cheeks would disappear! It made everything seem like an admission of guilt.

“Jasper can show Maria all the spots he wants.” When she realized how suggestive that sounded, she added quickly: “Eh… I mean, I don’t care to whom he shows what. This is the guy I’ve _loathed_ for years, Hale! Get a grip.”

Rosalie was laughing again, before saying amusedly: “Loathing, Love, Lust… all very passionate emotions. It’s not that hard for one to blend into the other actually. I would know. I go back and forth between these emotions daily with McCarty.”

Now it was Alice’s turn to raise her eyebrow and Rosalie froze, realizing what she’d said. “Not that I lo-… I mean, me and Emmett, it’s not about that…”

She was _stuttering_.

Now Alice was laughing. After Rosalie had grilled her about Jasper for the last couple of minutes, she was not going to let this go.

“Ah, yes. _Love_ and Lust and Loathing… always with these _passionate_ emotions. Well, you would know all about those, wouldn’t you”, she chanted.

Rosalie threw back the sofa cushion at her friend and they were both laughing now. People were starting to stare at them, but they didn’t care. Alice realized how much she’d missed Rosalie over the summer and the first few weeks at school. It felt nice to have this form of banter with someone, even when Rosalie was getting on her nerves immensely.

They were quiet for a while, each of them deep in their thoughts. Then, Rosalie turned to her again.

“What are you going to do about Benjamin?”

Alice gave her a puzzled look. “What do you mean, what am I going to do about Benjamin?”

“Well, are you still going to go out with him, I mean?” Rosalie looked at her questioningly.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

That came out sharper than Alice had anticipated. She was hoping that her friend was joking.

“Now that you’ve realized your _undying_ love for Whitlock…”, Rosalie started, before being shut up by the cushion hitting her face again. She chuckled and brushed it away, before continuing fearlessly. “You know… it hardly seems fair that you’re going out with Amun.”

Alice had now lost any control she used to have over the muscles in her face.

“Hale”, she began in a threatening voice. “It’s all fun and games, but… I truly hope you don’t _actually_ believe that I’ve got a thing for Whitlock, alright? Yes, I _did_ stare at him at Quidditch practice, and yes, maybe I did think he was _hot..._ ”

Alice could not believe she’d just said that.

She was cringing very hard.

“…but that doesn’t mean _anything_. If I’ve got a thing for anybody, it’s _Benjamin_. Unlike Jasper, he’s a proper gentleman and he’s never been anything but nice to me. And I look forward to our date in two weeks! It’s going to be great!”

Alice had to shut up now because even _she_ realized how much it sounded like she was trying to convince herself that this was the truth.

Oh God, maybe Rosalie had gotten to her.

She was not going to start liking Whitlock, regardless of what her best friend was thinking.

Rosalie was unconvinced. “Sure.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Then, she turned serious again.

“Clearly, I hit a sore spot there…”, Before Alice could protest, she added “… but to tell you the truth, I actually think Jasper is a pretty great guy. Sure, he used to be a pretentious asshole, and maybe he still is sometimes, but he’s really come around this year so far. And he _does_ like you.”

Alice had nothing to say to that and embarrassingly, she was blushing _again_. She was starting to think she had some rare medical condition or something.

The truth was, she knew all of this. Somehow.

She’d known for a while that Whitlock _did_ like her; it had just never mattered because she’d never been interested in him in that way.

But she could not deny that Jasper had in fact come around this year.

Maybe miracles did happen after all.

__

_**~*~** _

__

While Alice walked back to the Astronomy Tower, she was thinking about what Rosalie had said. Her friend had seemed _genuinely_ pleased about the idea of her being somewhat attracted to Whitlock.

She shook her head in incredulity, grinning to herself. How could Rosalie seriously believe that that could be a good thing?

Not that there was any truth to it, of course.

She had reached the steps of the Tower and started to make her way up the staircase. The eyes of the portraits on the walls were following her, but she was used to it.

Back in her first year at Hogwarts, she’d found it kind of creepy to be watched by those painted eyes wherever she went, but it didn’t bother her anymore.

Alice sometimes wondered how much the paintings knew about her and her life. They saw and heard everything after all.

At the top of the staircase, the portrait of the silver mermaid demanded to know the password.

“Veritaserum”, she replied, and the portrait swung open.

When Alice walked into the common room she shared with Whitlock, she somehow immediately knew that he was out. Maybe it was since his school bag wasn’t here – he normally threw it in the corner right away, the second he walked in. They’d bickered about that at some point during the first week of school.

For whatever reason, Alice felt a small sense of disappointment.

She told herself, it was because she’d hoped to get back to her Transfiguration essay and had been kind of stuck.

For a second, she envied Whitlock and McCarty, who both seemed to have no difficulty with the subject. Even _Ben Cheney_ was better than her.

A few years – or even months – ago, it would have been inconceivable to her that she would even consider allowing Whitlock to help her with anything, let alone her homework. The sheer idea of spending time with him, no matter the reason, had repulsed her.

But since they were “friends” now, it was an entirely different story.

Her thoughts drifted back to their conversation at lunch and once more she wondered what Emmett had been implying when he’d talked about Jasper being somewhat of an _expert_ at Transfiguration.

Paired with how odd he and Seth had behaved on Monday when she’d asked them about what was happening on the 27th, Alice felt herself wondering if they – or at least Jasper – had a secret.

Perhaps they had just meant that Whitlock was good at the subject – which, grudgingly, she had to admit, he was – but it had sounded like there was more to the story. And Jasper had seemed almost shocked like McCarty _was_ indeed spilling one of his most trusted secrets. The look he’d exchanged with Seth…

No, there had to be something else, Alice decided. Maybe one day, she could ask him.

She wondered where he was. Maybe he’d decided to go off with Maria, after all, she contemplated.

For some reason, Alice didn’t like the idea. Perhaps he’d set out to _make it up_ to her, as the brunette had demanded at lunch.

Then again, what was it to her? Whitlock could do as he pleased, and Alice was certainly not going to stop him or waste any thought about it.

She was well aware that Maria and Jasper had this on-off-thing going on. That wasn’t exactly a secret. It _had been_ going on for almost two years now.

In fact, very little of what Jasper Whitlock did at this school remained a secret for longer than a short time. He was one of the most popular students at Hogwarts after all. And especially when it came to girls and relationships and whatnot, neither McCarty nor Whitlock could keep everybody in their year – but also people from other years – from finding out what had transpired soon enough. They were two of the most prominent targets of school gossip.

Not that it ever seemed to bother them. Alice had always believed that both Whitlock and McCarty enjoyed the attention immensely.

So it hadn’t exactly surprised her to see Maria and Jasper interact with each other at lunch. They – similarly to Rose and Emmett – had a _physical_ relationship, at least if the rumours could be trusted.

Alice didn’t feel entirely comfortable to compare the rest of their dynamic with Rosalie and Emmett’s, though, because Jasper and Maria didn’t seem to have the same feelings for one another that Rosalie and Emmett did.

The Head Girl knew that Rosalie couldn’t stand Maria but had never thought twice about it. She’d always presumed it was because the two, in truth, were quite similar. Both stunningly gorgeous, sexually bold (at least that was the impression Alice got) and pretty much any boy’s – or man’s – dream.

Alice herself had never really interacted with Maria De Luz. Sure, they’d chatted in the hallways when they walked to a class together, but Alice did that with everybody. And once, she’d lend Maria her lipstick when they’d stood next to each other in the bathroom. But apart from that, she wasn’t well acquainted with De Luz, had no idea who she really was.

That’s why her openly hostile look at lunch had surprised her. Like she was trying to… _reclaim_ her territory or something.

The dark-haired Head Girl sighed and sat down next to the fireplace, throwing her own bag onto the coffee table in front of it. It was getting quite late and she couldn’t hold back a yawn. Once more, she wondered where Jasper could possibly be at this ungodly hour.

Her mind drifted back to Maria. Alice didn’t want to be involved in other people’s dramas. Clearly, the other girl was the jealous type.

But then again, she had nothing to be jealous about and Alice hadn’t done _anything_.

It wasn’t like she’d asked the Marauders to come to sit with them at the table. And she _certainly_ hadn’t planned for Jasper to sit down next to her and talk to her. He’d made that decision himself. He could talk to whomever he wanted, after all.

Back then, she’d almost envied Jasper for how smoothly he could put on this _too-cool-for-school_ attitude sometimes. Anyone else would have hesitated to sit down with people who they never usually talked to, but it seemed so easy for him. Must be that charm thing he had going on, that everyone seemed to have noticed before she did.

Now that she _had_ noticed it, though, she felt stupid for not having seen it before. She’d even seen it on Saturday during their first tutoring lesson when Jasper had taken so much time to explain some spells for Peter, who had instantly liked him and trusted his advice.

Alice was fairly sure he hadn’t _always_ been that way.

She remembered how arrogant and conceited he had been during their first years of Hogwarts, but maybe he’d only been like that to _her_. Well, and to James and the other Slytherins, but perhaps with people he’d liked, he’d always been charming?

Alice didn’t know and she was probably never going to find out.

It wasn’t like she could ask anybody, let alone _him_.

Alice didn’t get the chance to think about it further though, because the portrait hole swung open at that moment and in came – who else? – Whitlock.

His blond hair was even more unruly than usual, and his robes appeared to be wet, so maybe he had been outside.

Alice caught herself thinking that maybe he had _indeed_ been showing Maria his special spot at the Great Lake but pushed back the thought immediately.

For some reason it made her feel sick.

Probably because she seriously didn’t hope anybody was stupid enough to make out with someone in _this_ type of weather.

Yeah, sure, that had to be it.

Jasper looked up like he was surprised to see her here in the common room and stopped dead in his tracks. She was sitting on one of the armrests of the sofas next to the fireplace. Her short legs did not even touch the ground and instead were dangling in the air.

For one awkward blink of an eye, Alice had no idea what to say and just stared at him, but Jasper – as usual – recovered more quickly.

“Brandon!” His voice was surprised, but he was walking toward her and coming to a stop in front of the sofa she was sitting on.

Then he grinned. “Sorry. _Knock, knock_.” He pretended to knock on an invisible door.

It was a lame joke, but Alice could feel the corners of her mouth twitch, before twisting into a smirk. She had to look up at him even more than usual since he was standing in his full height while she was still sitting.

“ _Fine_ , I get it, it was kind of stupid of me the other day to ask you to knock here, okay?”

Her admission was meant good-humouredly, and she was finally regaining her composure.

Jasper smiled, too.

It felt nice to mess around with Brandon like this, without her going ballistic the second he opened his mouth. He could get used to it.

“No worries.” He waved it off graciously. “Why are you still up? It’s pretty late. Shouldn’t a good student such as yourself already be in bed at this irresponsible hour?”

His voice sounded like he was teasing, but he regretted the words instantly after they left his mouth. He didn’t want her to think he was patronizing her in any way.

In the past, Brandon had gone through the roof at comments far more innocent than this one.

But Alice just rolled her eyes. “Don’t you worry about my bedtime, Whitlock. I’m used to staying up pretty late at the library and it has never affected my formal education in any way.”

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and Jasper was laughing.

“I’m not worried about your _grades_ , Brandon.” He grinned, before remembering their previous conversation about _why_ exactly she felt the need to study so much. He tried so add something nice. “You’re one of the best students in our year. I’m sure you could manage to pass the N.E.W.T. without a single second of sleep the night before.”

Jasper mentally kicked himself. He also should not be thinking about all the _possible_ _reasons_ for Brandon to lose sleep at night.

Not a good direction for his thoughts to go in when he was trying to be a decent human being in her presence.

Thankfully, Alice’s thoughts didn’t seem to go to the same place as his did. She snorted.

“I wish.” Her reply was dry. “Despite you telling me that I _belong_ here the other day, school doesn’t come as easy to me as it does to you, believe it or not. I have to _work_ for stuff. Hence the long evenings at the library. But I’m not surprised _you_ don’t get that. You don’t even have to try, do you? You just get whatever you want without any effort?”

Jasper was staring at her incredulously for a moment. Was that really how she felt about him? _She_ of all people? The person he’d tried to convince to go out with him for years without _any_ progress?

Then again, he assumed she was just talking about school. And in that aspect, she kind of had a point.

Jasper made sure to avoid mentioning his previous thought because he knew she wouldn’t respond well if he did, and instead decided to stay on safe ground again.

“I guess, that’s fair.” He shrugged dismissively, not trying to show off, but at the same time not denying it either. “I don’t know why, but school’s never been that hard for me. I guess it’s because my dad has taught me a lot of the things we’ve learned here ever since I was little. He’s pretty smart and wanted me to be prepared for my time at Hogwarts.”

He couldn’t help but smile while thinking about his father.

At the same time, Jasper felt a little pang of homesickness. He’d always gotten along very well with his parents, who had – him being their only child and all that – always pampered him like he was their little prince.

His parents were good people.

Jasper thought back to last year when Emmett had shown up at their doorstep. His mother hadn’t hesitated for one second before taking him in.

Alice was surprised that he was volunteering information about his father. She didn’t know much about Whitlock’s family, only that they had money (because he’d been boasting about it pretty much constantly for their first years at Hogwarts) and that they had sort of adopted Emmett at some point last year when he’d run away from home.

“Sounds like you love him.”, Alice heard herself say before biting her tongue.

This was way too personal and Jasper seemed to think so, too, because his eyes shot up in surprise from the floor he’d been looking at.

She mentally flinched, but he didn’t seem mad.

“I do.”, he instead confirmed softly. “I know you think they’ve raised me to be an arrogant asshole and perhaps they did pamper me a little too much, but I think they’ve actually done a pretty good job, all things considered.”

He couldn’t help himself but tease her a little more. No matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to bite back these sorts of comments whenever he was near her. Something about her seemed to always stir him up. She was pushing his buttons without even knowing it.

Alice was looking at him with a staggering expression now.

“That’s not…” she stuttered, wondering why somehow their conversations always ended up in the same place, with her feeling strangely guilty about his nonchalant way of speaking about her previous dislike for him. “…it’s not what I think about you.”

When she saw Jasper’s eyebrow go up, and his amused, although sceptical expression, she added quickly: “Well, alright, it’s what I _used_ to think about you. And you have to admit I was kind of right!” She inserted those words almost defensively and Jasper chuckled. “But I guess… I don’t think that anymore. Not really.”

Alice had stared on the floor while she’d said those words but looked back at him now.

The way he was watching her was almost … _fondly_. She felt herself blush (Dear God, she really needed to get that checked out by a medical professional) and looked back down on the floor, tracing the carpet pattern with her eyes.

Jasper was cursing himself for all these past years he’d wasted.

If he’d known, all he needed to do to make Brandon flush in his presence was to get off his high hippogriff for once and be _nice_ to her, he’d have started doing that years ago.

She was absolutely adorable like this.

Even though he knew it was risky, he wasn’t prepared to leave her off the hook.

At the same time, he also realized he would have to tread carefully, or the whole thing would blow up in his face.

Alternatively, she would _literally_ blow up his face. She was a very skilled witch after all.

“What _do_ you think of me now, love?” Outwardly, his question sounded smooth, but mentally he was holding his breath waiting for her response. The last word slipped out automatically before he could stop himself. Without realizing it, he stepped closer.

Alice’s head shot up again, meeting his eyes once more. Her instincts were back, kicking in all of a sudden.

Whatever she did, she could not tell him the actual truth right now. There was no way in hell that she could ever tell him that she’d thought he had looked _hot_ at the Quidditch try-outs or that she was beginning to like him. Or that he looked handsome right now, too, looking at her like this, with his golden eyes that were kind of beautiful …

Her eyes narrowed. Hostility was always a good distraction.

“Careful, Whitlock,” she noted dryly and with the hint of a warning in her voice. “You’re on thin ice here.”

Jasper was grinning again but silently accepted defeat.

It would not be productive to probe her more when she got like this. He knew her too well for that.

Feigning innocence, he raised both hands with his palms turned in her distraction like he was yielding and gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. Old habits die hard, you know.”

And when he saw her challenging expression, he made sure to add hastily: “But, they totally _do_ die. They do! Just give me some time here, Brandon.”

Against her better judgement, Alice started to laugh. Their exchange had left her sort of light-headed and high-spirited. If anybody had told her that last year…

“You need to get over yourself, Whitlock.” She was truly enjoying herself now, teasing him like this. “I’m not going to hex you. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve kind of stopped doing that years ago.”

Jasper laughed, too. This had to be his favourite day ever. Alice had never been in such a good mood around him and he felt positively high on her enthusiasm.

He wanted her to always feel that way when she was with him.

Although the flushing part was kind of nice, too.

“One can never be too careful, dar-…” This time, he managed to bite back the last word before it could slip over his tongue. That seemed to amuse Alice even more.

“I don’t want to end up in the hospital wing with warts all over my face again.” Jasper shuddered overdramatically to heighten the comedic effect, remembering the last time she’d hexed him. To be fair, it had been two years ago.

It had been effective, too, because he’d left her alone for a while after that. It had been _that_ thoroughly unpleasant. For three days, he’d looked like a goblin.

Alice was _giggling_ , clearly enjoying the memory more than he did.

Jasper couldn’t remember how to breathe for a few moments.

“You _deserved_ it.” Her proclamation was passionate. “Poor Sculpicia however, did _not_ deserve to end up with hair made of Flobberworms.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, _poor_ Sculpicia had tripped Ben up so that he fell headfirst into his cauldron! He was close to bursting into tears in front of everyone!”, Jasper shot back without missing a beat. “Besides, with that incident, you single-handedly lost us the house cup that year. I had a right to be upset!”

They were both laughing now.

At that time, of course, they had been furious at each other.

And it was true that the incident had lost Gryffindor the house cup.

Professor McGonagall had missed the part where Jasper had turned Sculpicia Volturi’s hair into Flobberworms and had only entered the classroom in the process of Alice hexing him, so she’d had no choice but to deduct Gryffindor twenty points. It had been a close race that year. Ravenclaw had won the house cup instead.

Alice pretended to shudder. “Everyone was staring at me like I was some sort of pariah, on the last day of school.”

Jasper grinned. “I can imagine. Having lost my house a fair share of points myself, I know the feeling.”

The dark-haired witch rolled her eyes, shrugging. “Yeah, but no one can say anything to _you_ about it, because you winning all these Quidditch matches is the main reason why we’ve won the house cup so many times in the first place!”

It was true that while Jasper and his friends did get into trouble frequently, for various – not strictly legal – activities, he and Emmett were still the two people that also _made_ the most points, given that every victory in a Quidditch match was awarded fifty house points.

Additionally, they were exceedingly good at school, so usually they would get some points through that, too.

“Yeah, probably.” He could see that she kind of had a point.

At that moment, Alice couldn’t hold back a yawn though, and he chuckled. “Am I boring you?” Jasper’s voice was once more teasing her.

She rolled her eyes, _again_. “Yes, Whitlock. I think this is the longest conversation we’ve ever had without trying to murder each other, so cut me some slack for letting my guard down a little bit.”

Jasper had always known she was intelligent and witty, but he enjoyed her banter more than he could lead on.

He felt like he’d been smiling for twenty minutes straight, even though he was sure their conversation hadn’t lasted that long.

“Maybe we should both be good students and go to bed.” Without wanting too, his head drifted off into more inappropriate directions once more.

Again, she didn’t notice.

“Sounds like a plan.” She yawned again and gave him one last smile before she suddenly became unsure about what to say next. “So, eh… good night, Jasper.”

It was the first time she’d said his first name in this conversation, and he felt like his heart was about to explode with something…

 _Happiness_ , maybe? Joy? He couldn’t say for sure.

“Good night, Alice.” He gave her a radiant smile. “Sleep well.”

He wondered immediately if that was too much, but Alice looked at him with another friendly – but also somewhat shyly – expression, before turning around and walking into her room, leaving him standing in the common room with conflicting emotions.

On one hand, Jasper felt more hopeful than ever about his chances.

In the name of Merlin, they had never flirted so heavily before.

Well, they’d never flirted _ever_ before, at least not on her side of things, but _still_.

Maybe she was beginning to open up to the idea of him.

On the other hand, the blond Head Boy was well aware he should not get carried away. He had to be more careful than ever, with her finally starting to like him, because he knew it would be even more painful now if he fucked it up and lost her again.

He was _not_ going to fuck it up, he swore to himself.

Emmett had been right the other day. Jasper Whitlock did not give up easily and he was prepared to do anything to make this work.

On the other side of the door, Alice was leaning against the wood, breathing heavily.

She couldn’t believe what had just transpired. Had they really had _another_ normal, human conversation for more than thirty seconds? Had they been teasing each other about past incidents without _any_ form of animosity? Had she seriously been _giggling_ in Jasper Whitlock’s presence?

The world was spinning around her.

How the fuck did _that_ happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's enough for today. I need to proof-read the second half of this fic and change some sentences up a little, but I hope you enjoy it so far.


	11. The Party

_**~*~** _

_**7.** _

_Thursday, October 6, 1977_

They’d had to reschedule Quidditch practise yesterday – Edward and Emmett both had special study groups to attend to in the evening – therefore this week’s training session was taking place on Thursday for a change. The weather was – same as it had been during the past weeks – utterly horrendous. At least it wasn't as stormy as it had been yesterday, but it still rained cats and dogs, and Jasper and his team had put on their thickest rain capes.

It was the first training session of the new season and the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team was equally excited and anxious about it. Excited _,_ because he was confident that he’d picked a good team at the try-outs regardless of how difficult they had been this year. Jasper reckoned his team had excellent chances to win the Quidditch Cup once again this year, and he was – after three wins in the past three years – quite the expert in these matters after all.

At the same time, though, he was also more anxious than usual. Mostly, because he _did_ feel the pressure from all sides. _Everyone_ expected them to win. Professor McGonagall certainly did. She had wished him luck earlier for the first training, giving him a glance that basically said _I-am-counting-on-you._ He’d always had the feeling that she didn’t know how to feel about him. On one hand, she was rather annoyed at his and his friends’ nightly escapades, but at the same time, she could always count on him to bring the Quidditch Cup home to her house.

And she wasn’t the only one with expectations. Quite a few other students had clapped him on his back while he’d passed them in the hallways over the last couple of days, wishing him good luck; always with that sparkle in their eyes that seemed to say the same thing as McGonagall’s look had – that they counted on him.

Hell, even _Alice_ had told Jasper on Saturday before their tutoring session that she thought their team had great chances to win. And he wasn’t going to let _her_ down.

If Alice had finally decided to take a liking to his sport, he would try even harder to not lose a single game this season and bring the Cup home to Gryffindor. Whatever it took.

But Jasper also felt the pressure of his own making; more than anything, he wanted to win the bloody Cup, too. It would be his legacy. People would remember him for this. Being the only Quidditch Captain in Gryffindor to win the Cup four years in a row during every year as captain. Yes, he wanted that. Maybe it was arrogant and conceited, but he didn’t care. Jasper had always been competitive and there was no way he would change his nature now.

But while he was sitting on his broom on Thursday, high above the ground, and shielded his eyes from the rain with his hand, he started to realize that it would not be as easy as he’d anticipated and hoped. He was watching his teammates fly through the air, passing the Quaffle, trying to avoid the Beaters, and – in Rosalie’s case – looking out for the tiny Golden Snitch. Jasper sighed. Unfortunately, his team was just not there yet.

While it was obvious that each of his players was quite talented on their own, they had no idea how to function as a team.

Him, Marcus and Leah had never played together before and were therefore not as synchronized as was necessary for them to pass the Quaffle around. Rosalie wasn’t paying enough attention to what the others were doing. Emmett and Demetri ended up always going for the same Bludger, ignoring the other one, until it almost knocked Marcus off his broom. There was a lot of work to be done.

“Stop!” Jasper’s shout could be heard all across the pitch and his teammates turned their heads, flying toward him. When they were gathered in a circle up in the air, the Captain sighed.

“You need to try to work together more efficiently. Leah, don’t try to go for the hoops on your own. It won’t work when you have opponents, they will easily block you. Marcus was free on the other side; you should have passed to him. Alternatively, you could have given me a sign that I should fly beneath you and dropped the Quaffle. It’s a move the other team doesn’t usually anticipate.”

He turned to the Beaters. “Demetri, it’s nice that you went after the Bludger, but you need to pay attention to what Emmett is doing. In this situation, both of you went for the same ball. That’s pretty bad because it leaves the rest of us unprotected from the other Bludger. You and Emmett need to coordinate. Pick one ball at the beginning of the session and go after that one for the entirety of the match.”

Jasper saw with satisfaction that Demetri was nodding approvingly and moved on to the next person in the circle. “Rosalie. You’ve got excellent reflexes and you’re fast, but keep in mind that during a game, there will be twice as many players on this pitch and it will get crowded. As the Seeker, it is up to you to stay out of your teammate’s way, because _we_ will be too busy to notice you. Don’t get close to any of us or players from the other team unless the snitch is nearby.”

It was obvious that Rosalie didn’t like being told off, but she also nodded, with her jaw clenched. Jasper had a feeling that her sense of self-importance might become a problem, should they ever have a real argument on the pitch, but was satisfied for now.

“Okay, let’s try this again.”

The next time was much better.

Rosalie stayed ten feet underneath all of them, flying out of the way elegantly whenever anybody got too close to her. Leah tried passing more, but she and Marcus didn’t yet have that sense of how their teammates moved, so the Quaffle still flew towards the ground more than a few times and Jasper had to recover it.

But that much was to be expected. They had to get used to each other’s flying style. It had been like this every year when they’ve had new teammates.

Edward was the only one who was at the top of his game, but only because he didn’t really have to interact with his fellow team members apart from trying to hold their attempts to score. Which he did, brilliantly. Jasper was relieved that he could always count on his Keeper at least.

Emmett and Demetri worked together more effectively, too, apart from the one time when the two Bludgers flew right past each other and the two Beaters couldn’t stop their brooms in time, crashing into one another with a deafening sound. Thankfully, neither of them was injured and they could both continue the training.

The session took two hours instead of one, but Jasper felt confident that they’d achieved some progress. Still, it would take hard work and determination to bring together these individuals as a team and he was slightly disillusioned from his previous hubris. This would not be a walk in the park, and he’d been a fool to expect it. He regarded this lesson learned.

For their next training session, the Head Boy considered doing some team-building exercises to strengthen the solidarity within his team.

He had just started to pack up the balls in their suitcase again at the end of the training, when Emmett – who was the only person left on the pitch apart from him – flew towards him, coming to a halt only inches in front of him. Everyone else had already left for the showers and changing rooms.

“Let’s play some more, Whitlock. One on one. I’m not ready to go back to the castle.” Emmett was grinning at him.

Jasper threw a glance at his watch and decided that one more match wouldn’t hurt him. His mood wasn’t the best and it would be nice to get some distraction. He did have some homework to do, but he gathered that there would be enough time for that.

Additionally, Jasper knew that he could always copy his homework from another student if he _didn’t_ manage to do it himself in time. There was always someone who let him.

Most students were _thrilled_ when Jasper Whitlock wanted to copy their homework.

“Sure, let’s do it.”

He was still holding the Quaffle and eyed the goalposts behind Emmett, who’d flown into position opposite him, facing him directly. Jasper decided that provoking his best friend would probably be a good start if he wanted to win. It usually worked with the other boy and Jasper knew that if the other wanted to block him physically, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Emmett was one of the strongest people he knew.

No, he had to be clever about this.

“Don’t hold back.”

Emmett gave him a toothy grin. “Not in my nature.”

They were playing for a while, and Jasper managed to win every single round – which naturally didn’t sit well with Emmett – when he decided he’d had enough. At this point, he’d been at the Quidditch field for more than three hours and it was starting to get cold. He was also eager to finally change out of these wet, dirty clothes.

Emmett, of course, wanted to keep going to have the chance for a rematch, but the blond boy told him that it would have to be another time. He had to do his homework. After all, he was trying to be more responsible this year and doing his schoolwork was a part of that.

“Since when are you such a pussy, Whitlock?”, was all Emmett had to say to that, his head shaking in disbelief.

The two boys took a shower and walked back to the Castle, saying goodbye to each other on one of the staircases, Emmett heading for the Gryffindor common room and his dormitories, while Jasper took another staircase in the direction of the Astronomy Tower.

On the fourth floor, he ran into Professor Slughorn. He greeted the Professor as was expected from the students, and Slughorn – not paying much attention to him – nodded absent-mindedly. When they had already walked past each other and Jasper had almost reached the end of the corridor, Slughorn suddenly called after him:

“Whitlock!”

Jasper turned around, his blond hair swinging through the air. As usual, he was immediately wondering if he’d done something wrong since he had gotten used to teachers shouting his name in annoyance over his last years at Hogwarts. He automatically looked down at his clothes as a reflex, asking himself whether the shirt of his school uniform wasn’t properly tucked in or something, but saw nothing that could result in a telling-off.

Slughorn walked towards him with big steps. 

“Mr Whitlock, I’m so glad I ran into you. I’ve been looking for you for the past two days.” He began.

Jasper frowned, not having any idea what this was about. The Professor had been searching for him? Well, it wasn’t like Jasper was that hard to find. He had been at all the meals in the Great Hall and at all of his classes except for the one he had bailed out of with Seth.

“ _Why_ , Sir?”

“Well, first of all, I wanted to congratulate on becoming Head Boy. I haven’t seen you since then. Especially since you, unfortunately, decided to drop Potions last year.” The Professor’s voice sounded almost accusing and Jasper suppressed the urge to defend himself.

Sure, he’d been good at Potions, but it had never been one of his favourite subjects. He preferred lessons that involved more _action_ rather than stirring in a cauldron for an hour. Also, since he’d finished the Animagus Potion he hadn’t seen any more valuable reasons to attend the class.

“Thank you for the congratulations.”, he said politely, deciding to ignore the sideswipe at his choice of curriculum.

Slughorn wasn’t one to hold a grudge, though. He smiled brightly.

“You have turned into a surprisingly talented young man this past couple of years. First Quidditch Captain, now Head Boy. Also, I hear your grades are outstanding in almost all subjects. Professor Zafrina was gushing about your skills in Defence Against the Dark Arts the other day at the staff room.”

Jasper didn’t know what to say to that, so instead, decided to not say anything. He just nodded.

“You’re probably wondering why I’m approaching you like this.” Slughorn chuckled. “I wanted to invite you to the next party of my ‘Slug Club’ as I like to call it. You must’ve heard of it.”

Jasper had – in fact - heard about it, but the only reason he’d been interested in the topic in the first place, was that he knew Alice was a part of this so-called “Slug Club”. He’d always considered it to be pretty weird, though, how Slughorn showed off his favourite students so proudly to the whole school without any reservation. The other teachers always insisted on the whole _I-like-all-my-students-equally_ nonsense, but Slughorn had simply never cared. 

The Professor continued. “It’s tomorrow evening at eight, at my office.” And when he saw Jasper’s surprised face, he added: “I would have invited you sooner, but as I said, I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

Jasper wasn’t quite sure he wanted to attend this thing. One whole evening with Slughorn talking about old students of his that were now oh-so successful? Sounded like a nightmare. “Eh, Sir… I’ve actually got a lot on my plate right now with Quidditch and homework and stuff…” He trailed off.

Slughorn gave him a surprised look like he hadn’t expected him to decline his invitation. He raised one bushy eyebrow. “Surely you can spare a few hours to spend in good company. Everybody else has already accepted the invitation. I’ve been told that it was _quite_ the honour to be invited, by some of your fellow students.”

His words prompted Jasper to look up, now suddenly interested. _Everyone_? “Is… eh, who _is_ attending this party, Sir?”

Slughorn grinned as if he’d expected him to ask that. “Well, everyone. Miss Hale, who is the daughter of Royal Hale, a high member of the ministry, Mr Young, Miss Weber – who is an excellent student, Miss De Luz, Mr Lewis, Alec and Jane Volterra and of course the lovely Miss Brandon, who you must be familiar with since she’s your fellow Head Girl.

Jasper’s head was spinning. On one hand: Maria and James… those were two people he didn’t necessarily need to spend a whole evening with. Not that he had anything against Maria, but he’d kind of vowed to stay away from her for a while.

But at the same time… _Alice_.

The Head Boy was already imagining the petite witch all dressed up for the party, looking _beyond_ stunning for the duration of the night in a silky dress. He felt like that alone was enough motivation to go. Maybe he and Alice could even walk there together, making it feel like they were actually _on a date,_ finally.

_God, he was so pathetic._

“Fine.” He heard himself say before he knew it. “I’ll be there.”

Slughorn clapped his hands, looking pleased. “Great. As I said, it’s at my office. Oh, and before I forget: everyone is of course allowed to bring dates, so feel free to ask some lovely little lady to accompany you.”

With those words, Slughorn patted him on the shoulder before disappearing into the darkness of the hallway, leaving Jasper standing there, frozen.

 _Bring a date_? 

Was everyone supposed to bring a date to this or was that optional? And if it wasn’t, who would _Alice_ bring?

Mechanically, he was walking back to the Astronomy Tower. He was beginning to feel like he would regret saying yes to this thing soon enough.

If Alice was bringing someone – and the first person that came to his mind was Amun, of course – how would Jasper be able to endure seeing them together for an entire evening? It was bad enough knowing she’d said yes to going out with Benjamin in the first place, but at least Jasper didn’t have to _be_ there, watching them during their date.

He had a feeling that he could handle it as long as he didn’t have to _see_ her with someone else but being in the same room with Alice and the person she was going out with, sounded … painful.

As he walked back into their common room, the first thing he did, was to scan the room for her. The Head Boy and Alice had had all those nice, respectful conversations over the last few weeks and he felt like maybe they could just casually talk about this, too. Perhaps he could simply ask her if she’d invited Amun and then decide whether or not to attend this party. And truthfully, it seemed like the responsible thing to do.

And Jasper was trying to be responsible after all.

He felt like maybe he should _also_ ask her if she _minded_ that he would be there, but he suppressed the thought immediately after having it.

Why would he? Slughorn had asked him after all, clearly because of the potential he saw in him. It didn’t really matter if Alice minded. While Jasper didn’t want to make her feel like he was suddenly showing up everywhere she was, he also knew that the thought was unreasonable. After all, he hadn’t invited himself … it was not like this was some kind of scheme of his to spend more time with her.

Well, he did only agree to go because _she_ would be there, but Jasper decided that he could hardly be blamed for that.

But it didn’t matter anyway. Alice wasn’t in the common room. The blond boy sighed, not sure whether in relief or disappointment.

While he was stepping into the corridor behind their common room, the one with the two doors – one leading to her room, one to his – Jasper found himself automatically stopping in front of Alice’s room, listening for a sound of her. He couldn’t hear anything. Clearly, the dark-haired witch was out.

Maybe she was still at the library.

Maybe she was _somewhere_ _else_.

He couldn’t stifle the small pang of jealousy that came over him while thinking about it, before brushing it aside. It wasn’t like Alice to sneak out to see some boy in the night. She was responsible after all. She probably was – indeed – at the library. After all, she’d told him the other day that she was no stranger to long evenings of studying.

The Head Boy found himself thinking about the party again. Well, he decided, he had already accepted the invitation so what was the worst thing that could happen if he chose to attend this thing, right?

Jasper ignored the small voice in his head telling him that his heart might be broken.

_**~*~** _

_**8.** _

_Friday, October 7, 1977_

Finally, the weather changed again.

Rosalie had been looking forward to the weekend for the entirety of last week. She wanted to spend some more time with Alice, maybe also talk about boys again, but most importantly, she wanted to sit outside and sunbathe.

The blonde felt like she hadn't enjoyed herself in a while, because during the last week she had been very busy with schoolwork, and she and Alice had spent most of their time at the library.

So when the classes were finally over for the day, Rosalie and Alice headed outside immediately. They walked down to their usual spot, under a tree nearby the Whomping Willow - keeping a safe distance, of course - and sat down on a blanket.

They had already done their homework for Monday, neither of them wanting to procrastinate it when they started talking about Professor Slughorn's party, which would take place tonight.

“Who are you going to bring, Rose?” Alice gave her a look that indicated rather obvious that she expected her reply to be McCarty.

“Nobody. I'm going on my own.” Rosalie leaned back on the blanket, holding her weight on her arms and closed her eyes. It was warm for October, and the trees around them looked beautiful, covered by leaves in brown, orange and yellow colours.

“What about Emmett?” The Head Girl grinned.

Rosalie gave her an annoyed look. “I'm _not_ going out with McCarty. Sure, we get along just fine at the moment, but I don't want him to expect anything ... And if I were to go out with him, he definitely would. And that is not going to happen this year.”

Alice gave her an astonished look. She wondered what exactly had brought about this change of mind in her friend over the summer.

After all, this thing between McCarty and Rosalie had been going on for the last couple of years, and it seemed strange that she would only now end it.

“What _is_ going on between you and McCarty this year? Why have you suddenly decided you won't sleep with him anymore? Not that I'm opposed to that, but I see the way you're looking at him ... And not just you, it's him, too. You like each other, so why not just admit it, and start a real relationship?” Alice had long felt the need to ask her friend this question and was now relieved that she had finally dared to do it.

Rosalie stared at her bewildered, at a loss of words for once, which – admittedly – didn’t happen very often. Was it really _that_ obvious to everybody else how she felt about McCarty, or was that just her best friend?

“That is _exactly_ why I can't have sex with him this year. I do like him. But he's McCarty. He's never been serious about anything in his entire life, and the last time we were even close to a relationship, he slept with Lauren within a couple of hours, breaking my heart in the process. And I can't let that happen again because it was pretty painful back then.” Rosalie was surprised at herself for admitting that so nonchalantly. She had never said out loud before that it had bothered her so much.

At the same time, there was no one in the world that the blonde trusted more than Alice. And after the Head Girl had told her about _her_ own confusing feelings for Whitlock, Rosalie felt like she could also talk to her about _this_.

“I've never heard you admit that.” Alice seemed equally surprised.

Rosalie shrugged her shoulders. “Well, after you told me about how you thought Whitlock was _hot_ at the Quidditch try-outs, I felt like I could trust you with this. Nobody will ever hear from either of us about those two things. I think we can trust each other to keep these a secret.”

Alice was laughing at that, mostly to hide her embarrassment.

Internally, she was still _horrified_ that she had told Rosalie about Whitlock.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she’d felt this way, now it wasn't only in her head anymore; it was out there. And while Rosalie would never judge her, Alice also knew that she would never let her forget what she’d confessed.

“I think, what we _can_ trust, is the fact that I will absolutely _murder_ you if anyone ever finds out about this.” Her voice was deadly serious.

The blonde laughed. “I'm glad we're on the same page here. That's exactly what I will do, too, should anybody ever hear a word about this.”

“So, how _are_ things with Emmett right now? Didn't you have Quidditch training together last night?” Her dark-haired friend grinned.

Rosalie nodded. “Yeah, we did. It was pretty bad in the beginning because while everyone is quite good individually, it’s evident that we don't yet know how to work as a team. I think, Jasper was rather annoyed at first. But over the duration of the session, things got better. We still have a long way to go, but I feel like we can make it work.” During the last sentence Rosalie smiled absent-mindedly.

Alice was also beaming at her friend and her open enthusiasm about the sport. Whenever Rosalie talked about Quidditch, her eyes lit up. The petite witch was genuinely happy to see that her friend had found something she enjoyed that much.

“Well, that sounds good. I'm glad the team is coming together. You have one more month until the match against Slytherin, don’t you? It will probably be a pretty stressful time, though. We have quite a few tests and papers to hand in November. So if you ever need help, just let me know.”

Rosalie was looking at her friend with gratitude. She had been worried about all the schoolwork she would have to do in the next couple of weeks, while also having to train hard for their first match.

Additionally, Emmett had told her that Jasper liked to put in extra training sessions before matches, so she would be even busier.

“Thanks, Ali. I appreciate it. I'm really glad we made up. I have really missed you when we had that argument. And it's so nice of you to support me like this.”

Alice shrugged it off.

It was what she did. She had never known anything else but to spend her time either working hard or trying to make her friends happy. She knew that it was probably a little too much at times and that she should spend more time trying to work towards her own happiness.

But at the same time, her own happiness was based upon her friends’ happiness. If they were content, so was she.

She didn't have the time to reply though, because she discovered out of the corners of her eyes that someone was approaching quickly. Her eyes darted up and she saw none other than Emmett McCarty heading for their spot. The Head Girl looked back at Rosalie, and pointed at the boy, mouthing the word “Emmett”.

The other girl immediately glanced at him, too.

“Hale, Brandon. How lovely and unexpected to see you out here.” McCarty’s voice betrayed that he was not at all surprised to see them. The truth was, he had asked Bella where they were.

Or rather where _Rosalie_ was.

“What do you want, McCarty?” Rosalie raised her eyebrows.

“I was asking myself why you haven’t invited me to go to the party as your date tonight but couldn’t really figure out the reason for it. So I’ve decided I would go and ask you.” McCarty’s voice was confident as ever.

The blonde could only stare at him. “Maybe it's ‘cause I am _not_ going to go with you? How do you even know about this?”

“Jasper told me about it. Slughorn invited him, too, last night after Quidditch practice. Did you not know about that?” He grinned now, seemingly pleased with himself. Both of them turned to Alice instantly, to watch her reaction.

She was frozen for a moment, not knowing what to make of this. _Slughorn had invited Jasper? Why?_

Then again, it somehow made sense.

After all, Whitlock wasn't only Quidditch Captain, one of the best students in their year, but he was also Head Boy this year. Of course, Slughorn, who only invited the people with the most potential to his parties, would invite someone with _that_ many titles.

But she still didn't know what to feel right now.

She had planned to ask Benjamin to the party but now wasn't sure if she should. Alice could still vividly remember the look on Jasper’s face when Rosalie had told him about her date with Benjamin. He had been hurt, and she wasn’t keen on seeing him like that again.

But at the same time, nobody could expect her to live her life like this, constantly trying to look out for other people’s emotions, always worried that she would step on anybody’s toes. Alice reminded herself that it was not her fault Jasper had a thing for her. To stop herself from enjoying her life the way she wanted to, just because it would hurt his feelings, couldn’t possibly be the right choice either. There wasn’t any scenario that would work for everybody.

Life was full of choices after all, and sometimes there had to be collateral damage.

 _No,_ Alice thought. She was still going to invite Benjamin. It didn’t matter that Whitlock would be there. He would just have to get over it.

She may have thought him _attractive_ a couple of times during their last interactions but that didn't change anything. Alice was still determined to never go out with him, ever and the sooner he understood that, the better.

The dark-haired witch tried to play it cool in front of the others. “No, he didn't tell me about it. But we didn't exactly see each other since then, I left very early this morning. It's nice, though, that Slughorn invited him.”

Emmett seemed almost disappointed. It was obvious that he had expected a bit more drama at this reveal. Deep down, he was a Drama Queen, Rosalie thought. He relished in it.

She turned to McCarty again. “Well that's nice and all, but I'm still not going to go with you to that party. Clearly, Slughorn didn't invite _you_ , and I've already had to spend yesterday evening with you. Let's try to not make it a habit. I would like to enjoy myself tonight for once.”

McCarthy raised an eyebrow, looking at her questioningly. “I thought you didn't want to _enjoy_ _yourself_ this year, Hale. I thought you were changing your ways.”

The blonde didn't bat an eyelid. “Of course, _you_ wouldn't understand that people can actually enjoy themselves _without_ sex, but that is what I'm going to do. I would really like to go dancing again. I haven't been for a while and I've missed it.”

Alice was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable looking back and forth between Rosalie and Emmett. The way they were staring at each other, seemingly challenging but yet so intimate, in a way, made her look away.

Despite the fact that the two were always like this, it was bizarre to be in the middle of it every time. Their bickering always felt more like they were about to rip their clothes off in a few moments, Alice thought. Especially now, with the new knowledge she had that Rosalie actually _did_ have feelings for the boy, the Head Girl felt like she was intruding and she had to resist the urge to just pack up her things and give them some privacy.

 _Why is Rosalie like this_ , she wondered. Always snapping at McCarty, when all she really wanted to do was to be with him? It didn't make sense.

Emmett looked resigned, something that neither Alice nor Rosalie was used to.

“Very well then, I hope you have a great time at the party. Don't have too much fun without me.” He recovered his confidence during the last sentence and winked at the blonde.

Rosalie was already rolling her eyes when Emmett turned on his heels and stalked back to the Castle.

Alice gave her friend a questioning look. She didn't even have to say anything, because Rosalie already knew what would come next. “Don't. I _don't_ want to go there with McCarthy, I genuinely don't. It would be a disaster. Just imagine it. If Slughorn invited the same people he did last year, then it's going to be you, me, Whitlock, Lewis, De Luz and possibly Amun - should you decide to bring him - in the same room. It will probably be enough drama as it is _without_ me asking McCarty to come with me.”

Alice hadn't even thought about that up until that moment.

Oh, dear God, she thought. It _would_ be a disaster.

The Head Girl had no desire to see James again after their meeting at the Great Lake the other day and the rude things he’d said to her. She felt like one of these conversations in a week would be enough.

And then there was Maria … the dark-haired girl had given her that strange, hostile look at lunch, almost appearing to be _jealous_ of her and Jasper. As if there _was_ anything between her and Whitlock. Clearly, whatever Jasper and Maria had going on, they were not communicating with each other very well.

And lastly, there was Whitlock himself. Paired with her and Amun the whole thing spelled like a recipe for disaster.

“I _can't_ go to this thing,” Alice exclaimed with something like panic in her voice. “Lewis _and_ Whitlock _and_ Amun _and_ me at a party? That won't go well.”

Rosalie grinned. Internally, she thought it was kind of funny how all these boys were so crazy about Alice.

Sure, in Lewis’s case, it was more in a creepy and obsessive way and she didn’t envy her friend for having to deal with his constant apologies again and again.

Whitlock, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any sense of self-preservation whatsoever if he had seriously agreed to go to this thing. Didn’t he know that Alice would probably ask Benjamin? Did he have masochistic tendencies? Rosalie had no idea.

But Alice liked _Amun_ , so why shouldn't she go with him? It wasn’t up to her how the other two would react to it. The blonde shrugged.

“Why not? Sounds like fun. Three guys that are all absolutely in love with you in the same room at the same time. What could possibly go wrong?” Her voice was thick with sarcasm and humour.

Alice glared at her with annoyance. “They are _not_ in love with me. Neither of them. James is just pissed because I won't be friends with him anymore, Whitlock has _really_ just been asking me out because his ego can't take a hit, and Benjamin... well, Benjamin _does_ like me, I guess, but I wouldn't go as far as saying that he's in love with me.”

Love was kind of a tricky topic for Alice. She had never been in love before and therefore had hurt the two guys that had admitted being in love with her so far.

Rosalie knew all of this, of course. But she also knew that her friend was wrong about _this_.

After all, the blonde wasn’t blind. She had seen the way that Lewis and Whitlock looked at Alice. There was definitely more going on there than her friend was admitting to herself. Especially with Jasper. Hadn’t she just said only a few days ago how attractive she found him?

“If you say so. I'm not convinced, but you can continue fooling yourself if you like. But you are right about one thing and that’s the fact that this is _indeed_ going to be a disaster.”

For some reason, Alice felt the need to prove to her friend wrong after she’d said that. Probably because she would hate it if Rosalie was actually right about this.

So, regardless of what she was really feeling, she shrugged it off nonchalantly.

“Maybe it'll be fine, you know. Maybe Whitlock and Lewis did finally get the hint and will just leave me alone at this party. I will definitely ask Benjamin to come with me. Who knows, maybe he doesn't even want to and the whole problem is solved.”

Rosalie looked at her incredulously. “If he doesn't, then he's a fool. Every boy would be lucky to go out with you, in case it wasn't obvious enough by your many admirers.”

Alice felt herself blushing. _Many admirers_? Dear Lord, she didn't have many admirers. She maybe had one, and that was Benjamin. Other than him, there was no one else.

The dark-haired witch still decided not to say argue with Rosalie about this, because for some reason she was remembering the conversation she'd had with Jasper in the Astronomy Tower the other day, and felt her cheeks redden even more. The way he’d looked at her …

Maybe she did have more than one admirer, after all, Alice had to admit begrudgingly. But it wasn’t as if that really mattered. She just wasn’t into Whitlock that way and she would go to this party with Benjamin and have a great time.

Jasper needed to get it into his head that they were never going to happen.

_**~*~** _

__

Thankfully, Alice hadn’t seen Jasper for the rest of the afternoon, because she and Rosalie had gone to the blonde’s dormitory to pick out clothes for the party.

The Head Girl wasn’t in the best mood, though. She _had_ actually asked Benjamin to the party, but he’d, unfortunately, had to decline the invitation since Hufflepuff was training tonight. Her only consolation was that the boy had looked genuinely disappointed, so at least Alice knew he would have said yes under different circumstances. Still, it felt like a setback. 

Not that Alice didn’t think the whole thing would be bad enough with Lewis and Whitlock, so maybe it _was_ better if Benjamin wasn’t there.

Alice couldn’t even say for sure why she was so relieved that she hadn’t seen Jasper before the party.

Maybe, she’d been worried he would ask her to go to the party with him.

Although they were friends now, _sort of,_ the dark-haired girl didn’t really think they were ready for something like that. She somehow knew that Jasper would get carried away if she casually asked him to go to that party together as friends (he always did whenever she was nice to him for a couple of sentences) and Alice didn’t want to encourage him in any way. Alice wanted to avoid that Whitlock started to seriously believe in the possibility of her going out with him.

Instead, she had asked Bella to accompany her. Nobody had ever said anything about having to bring someone from the _opposite sex,_ and she felt like Bella was just as much in need of a distraction from the dull everyday life at Hogwarts as she and Rosalie were, so it felt like a good compromise. It could be fun, like a proper girl’s night.

Shortly after eight o’clock, the three girls made their way through the castle, heading in the direction of Professor Slughorn’s office. It was in the dungeons.

Bella had never been there, she’d admitted, and Alice and Rosalie were telling her about it on the way. The girls were chatting and giggling the whole time, glad to finally have something to look forward to.

When they reached the dungeons, Bella’s mouth dropped open. Professor Slughorn had decorated the hallway in front of his office with little lights that were flying around in the air. It looked stunning and magical and gave a romantic aura to the surroundings.

Even Alice and Rosalie, who weren’t at one of these parties for the first time couldn’t help but admire how beautiful it looked. It made them feel like they were going to a real party, instead of just a weird school one.

In the past, Professor Slughorn’s party had been either quite tedious or pretty strange. Sometimes he invited grown-ups, too, old friends that he had taught at Hogwarts years ago and who now held important positions in either the ministry or some other essential workplace of the Wizarding World.

Last year he had invited Eleazar Abbott, who was the Seeker for England’s national Quidditch team and who had fallen in love with Rosalie the second he’d laid eyes on her. The blonde, having a thing for Quidditch players, had made out with him for most of the night, and Alice had spent pretty much the rest of the party standing around in a dark corner, feeling James’ eyes on her the entire time. Thankfully he hadn’t made a move to approach her, though.

But Alice felt confident that with Bella at her side, there was no way the situation would repeat itself.

They entered the room, and Bella was gaping once more. The room was magically enhanced to be a lot bigger on the inside than it appeared to be from outside and it was almost as big as a ballroom, with different sections to separate the different areas.

There were the dining tables on their left side, clearly for more than just a handful of people. On the other side of the room, Alice could see a sort of lounge, with comfortable armchairs and club chairs. That area was less illuminated than the others (there were candles and fairy lights everywhere!), giving it a sort of snug and cosy atmosphere.

And then there even was a dance floor in the middle of the room. The music was already playing, and people were scurrying around on and around the dance floor.

Clearly Professor Slughorn had not _only_ invited his usual Club of six to ten students but also his friends as well; there were over forty people present. Most of the school’s professors seemed to be here, and Alice could see Professor Carlisle Cullen and his wife Esme standing arm in arm next to the entrance, chatting to Professor McGonagall. All of them were wearing their dress robes and each of them was holding a – possibly alcoholic – beverage in their hands.

For the last couple of years, there had always been a spell guarding the table with the drinks, preventing minors from taking a glass with anything other than water or pumpkin juice, and Alice wondered if that would be the case today. She went through the list of attendees, but everyone that she knew of was seventeen and in their year. Therefore, cautionary measures like this perhaps wouldn’t be needed this year.

Rosalie pulled them in the direction of the beverage table as soon as they entered the room before Alice had a chance to protest. The petite witch felt like they should greet Professor Slughorn first, who was, after all, the host who had invited them. So far, she hadn’t seen him but was sure he would have to be around here somewhere.

Once her blond friend had made sure they were properly equipped with a drink, Alice found herself looking around the room once more and realized that her friends were doing the same.

“It’s beautiful!”, Bella exclaimed excitedly. Although the brunette normally didn’t like parties, she couldn’t help but admit to herself that this was on a new level. It probably also helped that the party wasn’t about her; that was normally the reason she disliked it. Bella hated attention.

“It is. Do you think Slughorn is doing this for us?” Rosalie looked at her two friends with a puzzled expression. “You know, because it’s our last year?”

Alice shrugged. “Maybe. Every member of the ‘Slug Club’ is in year seven right now, right? We’re all not going to be here next year.”

“If we pass the N.E.W.T.”, Rosalie muttered.

The dark-haired Head Girl rolled her eyes. “Neither of us would be here if there was any danger of us not passing it. Slughorn likes people with potential, remember?”

The girls laughed.

Rosalie excused herself to the bathroom a few moments later. Bella looked after the blonde in astonishment.

“She _already_ needs to put on a different lipstick?” It was unfathomable to her and Alice giggled.

“You know what she’s like. I think she feels like the one she’s wearing doesn’t quite fit well with the interior design of these rooms”. It was a joke and Bella laughed but Alice found herself secretly wondering if there wasn’t some truth to it.

She continued looking around the room. The next people she discovered were the Slytherins. There were Alec and Jane Volterra, dressed completely in black. Alice had never particularly liked the siblings, but they were quite gifted in school, especially in subjects like Charms or Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Secretly, Alice had found herself wondering if the two were not also sympathising with the thought of joining the Dark Lord after they graduated school. It didn’t seem like much of a stretch for them.

Next to them stood, also dressed in all black, James Lewis. The three of them were talking quietly about something, their heads stuck together. He looked annoyed for some reason and was shaking his head at something one of them had said. At least his horrible friends Victoria and Laurent did not seem to be anywhere close, Alice thought with relief. She didn’t want those two around tonight.

James looked up at that exact moment and, for the fraction of a second, their eyes met. The Head Girl saw the usual combination of longing and irritation in his gaze and looked away at once. There was no chance that she was going to speak to him during the rest of the evening.

When she let her eyes wander again, she could make out Madam Hooch, the Quidditch referee and Flying Teacher of the first-years, standing next to Professor Flitwick. It looked almost absurd how much taller she was than the Charms Professor, who was part Goblin.

Next to them stood – making the height difference even more clear and grotesque – Jasper.

For a few seconds, Alice’s heart fluttered while looking at him. _Damn, he looked good_. There was no way of denying it.

Wearing his dress robes, too, but having rolled up his sleeves to reveal his forearms, he managed to look cool and elegant at the same time, which was something _nobody_ could pull off apart from him. Alice had never particularly had a thing for men in dress robes, but she thought she was reconsidering that now.

Jasper also seemed to have tried to tame his always-messy hair but had only half succeeded. It still looked handsome, the way a few strands of hair kept falling back in his face. He had to push them back often. Alice caught herself wondering what his hair must feel like when running one’s fingers through it and blushed at the thought instantly. But she couldn’t look away.

He was so much taller than both Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick – which, admittedly wasn’t that hard, since even _Alice_ was taller than the Professor and she was _tiny_ – and he looked like he belonged here. It was as if he was used to attending these kinds of parties since birth. For some reason Alice thought that he looked older than he was, seeming to easily fit in with the grown-ups.

Right now, the two teachers were laughing at something he said, and the dark-haired Head Girl wondered what they were talking about.

“Alice?” Bella’s voice pulled her from her reverie and Alice flushed once more, this time genuinely embarrassed. The brunette grinned at her, while also raising her eyebrows almost to the ceiling.

“Were you just staring at _Jasper_?”, she wanted to know disbelievingly. “Jasper _Whitlock_?” She added for emphasis as if there was more than one individual with that name present.

“No!” Alice’s reply came too quickly and, had it been humanly possible, Bella’s eyebrows would have gone through the roof. She started laughing.

“Oh. My. God.” She mouthed at her friend, not wanting to say it aloud. “Have you got a crush on him?”

“No!” Alice knew she sounded repetitive, but she was completely aghast and couldn’t think of anything else to say. Bella’s knowing smile did not help.

“I did not stare at him. I was just amused by their height difference.” The lie came over her lips easily, but she could tell that Bella wasn’t buying it.

“Sure.” Bella grinned. And then, looking at Jasper and the Professors herself, she added: “Their height difference is quite funny, actually.”

Alice sticked out her tongue. “That’s what I said.”

Her brunette friend wasn’t quite done. “And I can’t say I don’t get it. Whitlock looks _gorgeous_ in that dress robe. I mean, wow. What a man.” It was more to rile up Alice than anything else.

Sure, Bella thought Jasper looked quite handsome, but she was mostly phrasing it that way to annoy her friend.

Alice’s face had turned bright red at this point and she turned her head away from Bella. “He’s not a man.” She asserted forcefully. “He’s a _boy_ and he’s annoying. It doesn’t matter that he looks good in a dress robe.”

Too late, she realized what she’d said and stared back at Bella with a staggered expression. Bella couldn’t stop herself; she was roaring with laughter now, making a few people look in their direction in bewilderment.

“Ah, _does_ he now?”, Bella teased again. “You know, the other day on the Quidditch pitch I thought I was imagining things because I was sort of under the impression that you were, in fact, staring at a certain team captain similarly as you were just now… but I felt like I couldn’t _possibly_ be right about this. Until now.” She stopped and gave Alice another amused smile. “You like Jasper, don’t you?”

Alice glared at her. “Absolutely not.”

And when she realized that that sounded exactly like something she _would_ say if she _did_ , she added: “I mean, yes, I’ve started to kind of like him over the last couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean… I mean, it’s not like… I don’t like him like _that_ or anything.”

Annoyed with herself at her stammering words, she turned back to her friend.

Bella – like Rosalie the other day – was unconvinced but decided to let it go. It was not wise to probe Alice about this or the tiny witch would eventually go through the roof.

“Okay. I’m just saying. It’s fine, you know. Being attracted to someone even if you don’t want to go out with them. It happens.” She shrugged.

Now it was Alice’s turn to be surprised.

“ _Who_?” It was all she asked.

To her surprise, Bella blushed, too. “No one,” she said just as fast as Alice earlier, and the Head Girl grinned.

“It’s Jacob, isn’t it? Jacob Black?”

Alice had seen the looks Bella had sometimes thrown the boy during mealtimes and hadn’t missed that Edward occasionally appeared to glare at Black like he was jealous or something.

At the same time, Alice was also quite aware that Bella would never _do_ anything. She loved Edward, always had and always would. Nobody could ever compare to him in Bella’s eyes.

Bella blushed even more. At least they both looked the same now, Alice thought.

“He’s hot, what can I say?”, Bella muttered, and her friend laughed. She had known it!

Alice also knew that her friend was aware of _her_ own past with Jacob. The brunette and Rosalie were the only people the Head Girl had told about it.

Her first time had been quite embarrassing, and she honestly didn’t remember all that much about it. It had happened at the celebrations for Gryffindor’s victory against Hufflepuff last March.

Alice had finally turned seventeen at the beginning of the year, meaning she was now officially an adult in the Wizarding World, and she had been eager to get her first time over with. She hadn’t planned the way it was going to happen, though.

Someone had smuggled alcohol into the castle and the party in their common room and pretty much everyone attending the party had been drunk within the first half-hour.

After a few hours, Alice had found herself in a corner with a severe headache that did not seem to go away. Sitting next to her was Jacob, who had offered to help her. Apparently he knew a spell that could help with headaches. When she’d agreed, he had demonstrated it on her. It had actually worked.

So somewhere along the line, Alice and Jacob ended up making out heavily in the Prefect’s bathroom. They hadn’t left it at that.

It had not been as bad as Rosalie had made it sound and therefore had not been their only time sleeping together, but Alice’s lack of feelings for him had started to bother her after a while and she’d broken it off after two months. Nobody in the school apart from her friends – and maybe his – had even known about it, because they’d been very careful. At least Alice hoped so.

“Is that okay for you?” Bella’s voice pulled her from her memories.

Alice laughed. “Of course, it is. You know that was not serious at all. At least not for me. And it’s not like you’re going to act on it, right?”

To her utmost surprise, Bella was avoiding her gaze now. Alice’s eyes narrowed. “Bella?”

The brunette looked up at her again, with something like regret and shame in her eyes. “Well, he did kiss me the other day.”

Alice stared at her incredulously. That could not be true. Bella and Jacob? What the hell?

She voiced her thoughts. “What the fuck, Bella? What about Edward?”

Bella gave her an almost angry look. “It wasn’t like I _necessarily_ wanted to kiss him! He just did it… I punched him in the face, of course, nearly breaking my hand. And I’ve told Edward about it, so don’t worry. He was furious, but not at me, at Jake. It was a whole mess.” She sighed.

Alice could not believe what she was hearing. “How did I not know about that? Why didn’t you say anything? And how come the whole school wasn’t talking about this?”

It seemed like something the whole school _would_ talk about, for sure.

Before Bella could reply, a voice from behind Alice was asking, close to her ear: “ _What_ wasn’t the whole school talking about?”

Immediately, she spun around at the sound of his voice and found herself face to face with Jasper, who had apparently decided to move on from his conversation with the teachers. Thankfully, Alice wasn’t blushing this time, but instead tried to hide her embarrassment by snapping at him: “It’s very impolite to eavesdrop, Whitlock. Hasn’t anybody ever told you that?”

Jasper chuckled. “Now that you’re mentioning it, I think somebody did, in fact, tell me about that. It was a long time ago, though.” He grinned down at her.

Alice once more wished that she was taller so she would not have to tilt back her head to look at him. “Well, why don’t you listen to that advice then?”

“I’m sorry.” Jasper didn’t want to argue with her, even though she looked cute like this, furiously staring up at him. “I wanted to say hi and couldn’t help but overhear the last part of your conversation when I walked up to you. I didn’t mean to annoy you.”

He gave her a genuine smile and Alice felt her heart stopping for the fraction of a second.

Had his smile always been this beautiful?

She forced herself to look away and her eyes landed on Bella, who was glancing back and forth between them. She appeared as if she was considering whether she should excuse herself. Alice shook her head very faintly, telling her friend without words to not leave her alone with Whitlock.

Bella either didn’t get the hint or simply didn’t care.

“Eh, Alice, I need to go to the bathroom to check on Rosalie.”

Some people needed a little push in one direction or the other, and Bella was always good at determining when that was the case. Even if the people involved didn’t realize it themselves.

Alice stared at her friend in horror. Bella ignored her and turned to Jasper.

“Nice seeing you, Jazz,” she said. Jasper nodded at her in a friendly way and she rushed away.

He turned back at Alice, who seemed terrified to be left alone with him. Internally, he grinned. Maybe this felt to her as it felt to him: like a date.

“So, is Bella your date for tonight?” His voice sounded casual. In truth, it was impossible to describe his relief when he’d seen her showing up with the girls instead of Benjamin earlier.

Alice was still not capable of moving on from the horror she was feeling. She’d admitted to Bella that she was somewhat attracted to Jasper and the brunette had decided to leave her alone with him, probably thinking she would do her a favour.

At the same time, she was still reeling about the news with Jacob, Bella and Edward.

Even worse was the fact that she could feel James’ appalled eyes on her. She knew why. He couldn’t believe that she was talking to _Jasper_.

 _Good Lord._ Not for the first time, she wished the ground would just swallow her whole.

“Yes. I asked Benjamin first, but unfortunately, he has Quidditch practice tonight so he had to decline the invitation.” Alice couldn’t help but rub it in his face.

It was a reflex, maybe a defence mechanism. Maybe if she told him now, he would _finally_ get in his skull that they were never going to happen. It was what she’d wanted.

Jasper deflated immediately. It was _painful_. For one moment he had no idea what to say and just stared at her.

There it was. He’d gone and tried to change his whole behaviour around her over the last couple of weeks and had even succeeded a little bit in trying to make her like him. He’d even managed to become friends with her and had a few really nice, almost flirty conversations with her.

But she _still_ didn’t want him.

Deep down, Jasper had always fooled himself into believing that if he actually tried to make an effort, if he would actually stop getting on her nerves all the time, Alice would have no choice but to fall in love with him after all.

Clearly, he had been delusional.

But right now, he had to say something. He’d been staring at her in shock for too long. Bringing his emotions under control, he tried to make his voice sound as casual as possible. “Ah, that’s a shame.”

Unfortunately, his voice didn’t sound casual at all. He sounded jealous as fuck.

Alice didn’t miss it and mentally, she flinched. Had she not felt so bad for him the last time, when Rosalie had hurt him by telling him about her date? Why was _she_ now the one doing it?

“Jasper…”, she began, although she had no idea what to say.

“I think, I’ll go and chat with Professor McGonagall.” He interrupted her before she could apologize for anything.

Jasper understood it was not her fault she didn’t like him the same way he did her. That didn’t make it any less painful. “She will be interested to know how the first Quidditch training went.”

Without any further words or even throwing another glance at Alice, he pushed past her and walked away, leaving Alice feeling like her knees were about to give in. She told herself it was just because of the pain she was causing him, but she had to admit there was more to it.

When she looked up, her eyes felt almost … watery? Alice brushed over them in shock. _Was she going to cry about this_? Absolutely no way. She would not cry over Whitlock of all people. She had promised herself a long time ago that she would never give him that satisfaction.

Looking around the room – desperate to find her friends – her eyes landed on James. He was staring at her in utter disbelief like he could not grasp the concept of her talking to Whitlock.

Faster than she could run away, he had bridged the distance between them and was standing right in front of her. Alice felt like she was about to start screaming. This could not be happening. What had she done to deserve it that this night was slowly but surely going to shit?

“What did Whitlock just say to you?” James’ voice was full of hatred and anger. It was obvious that he believed Jasper had done something to hurt or upset her. It wasn’t a far stretch, from his point of view. He only knew Jasper to be a pompous asshole and a bully.

Alice shook her head vehemently. She knew that her former best friend would never understand the situation and she didn’t want him to make a scene – which he would, she was sure of it, if she didn’t convince him now.

“Nothing! I just told him to leave me alone as usual, and he accepted it and walked away.” Alice knew that this was something James would believe – that Jasper had asked her out or tried to flirt with her, because it was exactly what he always used to do, and that she’d brushed him off the way she normally did.

James raised his eyebrows. “He’s still not leaving you alone?” His eyes wandered over to where Jasper stood now, next to Professor McGonagall and the two Cullens.

Alice shrugged like it was no big deal and didn’t bother her all that much. “He’s not really that annoying anymore, but I still don’t really want to hang out with him. Please don’t make a fucking scene about this, it’s really nothing.”

Her voice didn’t sound as hard and confident as she’d hoped.

“Besides, out of you and Whitlock, it’s _you_ that’s really bothering me and refusing to leave me alone, so you’re one to talk, Lewis.”, she added and finally her tone was harsh.

He flinched again, looking back at her. “Alice…”

“Stop,” she groaned in exasperation. “Don’t. Fucking. Do. This. Not again. Not tonight. Not ever. I can’t deal with this anymore. Leave me alone.”

Alice could tell that her words really hit home this time. He looked completely and utterly in pain.

Internally, she was horrified at herself, hurting not one, but two of the boys that liked her, in the span of just a few minutes. God, she was really on fire tonight.

But with James, it didn’t hurt her that much. She’d said these words many times before, after all, and it had never seemed to achieve the desired outcome. Maybe it would work this time.

“Fine!”, he snarled at her with open hostility, before nearly pushing her over while passing her.

Alice was standing there on her own now, _really_ struggling not to cry. Since when had she become so awful, making choices to hurt people like that?

The moment didn’t last long, because Rosalie and Bella suddenly appeared at her side again. With one look at her expression, they realized something was wrong.

“What happened?” Rosalie’s voice was thick with worried.

Alice noticed that her own voice sounded strangely tinny when she replied: “I told you it would be a disaster, me being at this party with Whitlock and Lewis. I was right.”

“What happened?” Bella was repeating Rosalie’s question, now equally worried. Her friend’s tone didn’t promise anything good. She felt guilty for leaving her alone with Jasper, even though she’d meant well.

“First, I snapped at Jasper, telling him that I’ve originally asked Benjamin to this party tonight… if you remember his look from the other day at the common room you can imagine how well that went…” She broke off, trying to shake the memory of just how disappointed he’d looked. Like she’d punched him in the gut.

Rosalie and Bella exchanged looks. They could indeed imagine that.

“And then, James came over because he’d seen my conversation with Jasper and wanted to know what it was about. He noticed that I was upset about it and I think he kind of thought that Jasper had said something awful to me… I managed to stop him from going to kill Whitlock, but I was pretty horrible to him, too, so he left, really pissed at me as well.”

That one the other hand, did not really surprise or shock either of her friends.

Rosalie tried to make a joke. “Well, at least maybe that means that you got rid of two problems with one stone. There is no way either of them will bother you any more after that.”

Bella and Alice both looked at her with angry expressions and she back-pedalled immediately. “I mean, I get it, it sucks! But isn’t this kind of what you wanted? I mean, you don’t want Whitlock or James to feel like they have any kind of chance with you, do you?”

“Of course not!”, Alice hissed. “But there was no need to be awful to either of them.”

Bella had to agree with Rosalie for once. “But Ali, it doesn’t sound to me like you were awfully mean to either of them. All you did was tell them the truth. How they handle it is their business.”

Alice felt like her friends didn’t really understand her. At the same time, she didn’t even understand herself, so she could hardly blame her friends for it.

Truthfully, she didn’t know why she was so distraught about this, but it probably had to with the fact, that clearly, she actually _did_ _like_ Jasper.

After all, it wasn’t so much James she was upset about.

Alice had to stop lying to herself and just admit the truth – sometime during the last couple of weeks, Jasper and she had become _actual_ friends. She cared about him and didn’t want to see him hurt. And the fact that he was now hurting because of _her_ made her feel guilty.

She considered walking over to him and asking for his forgiveness, but she had no idea what she could say to him. The Head Girl remembered the other day in the Great Hall when she’d wondered about that same thing.

 _I am sorry that you’re in love with me and I will never feel the same way about you_ , didn’t sound any better today than it did back then.

Blatantly, her friends were still waiting for her to reply to Bella’s last comment, so she pulled herself together. “I know, it’s not up to me how they react, but I said these words with the intention to hurt them. That’s what I’m so shocked about.”

It wasn’t the whole truth but she couldn’t admit that to her friends.

Thankfully, both seemed to buy it. Rosalie nodded. “I get it. You don’t like hurting people. But you know, sometimes it’s necessary in the long run. You didn’t do anything wrong, so don’t feel guilty.”

Alice nodded, too, but couldn’t get rid of the sick feeling in her stomach.

“Come on, let’s not have this ruining our night, girls!”, Bella said, to everyone’s surprise, her voice enthusiastic. “Let’s have some fun!”

And so they did.

Or at least, Alice tried to. As the evening progressed, she found herself dancing more than once, mostly with her friends, but also with Professor Slughorn – very weird! – and a few of his grown-up friends. Most of them were still quite young, so it wasn’t as weird.

She avoided looking at Jasper or James – although the latter seemed to have left anyway – for almost the entire evening.

The one time she _did_ glance over at Jasper, she instantly regretted it.

He was standing next to Maria De Luz – his friend-with-benefits or whatever the hell she was – his arms around her and the two were whispering things to each other, their faces only inches apart. Maria had wrapped her fingers around the ends of his - now untied - tie as if to pull him closer and was clearly pressing her body up against him in a very sexual way.

Alice felt sick all of a sudden and had to look away.

Instead, she proceeded to pretend that she was having the time of her life on the off chance that Jasper would also look over at her.

For some reason, her guilt had disappeared the second she’d seen him with Maria and had been replaced with fury.

Why had she even felt sorry for Whitlock? It wasn’t like her constant refusals were a hard hit for him. He could have pretty much any girl at this school without any effort. They practically threw themselves at him, after all. Maria wasn’t the only one.

It was something that had always annoyed her about him in the past, but it felt different now. Back then, she hadn’t been able to understand it. Alice hadn’t seen why any girl would actually want to be with him. For her, he’d always been a rich snob, an arrogant toad, a pretentious show-off.

What made it so much worse now, was that she _could_ see why girls liked him. Hadn’t she herself had to admit to herself only about two hours ago that he did indeed look ridiculously attractive? Hadn’t she thought the same thing at Quidditch try-outs and the other day when they’d walked to the library together?

Hadn’t she also realized that he could be really charming when he wanted and that he was good with people in general?

And had she not blushed more than just a few times in his presence over the last couple of days?

But, and this was the most shocking of revelations, was she not _jealous_ right now of Maria?

 _Oh God,_ Alice realized with utter horror and disbelief. She did like Whitlock after all.

__

_**~*~** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? What will Alice do, now that she realises that she might actually like Jasper a little bit? Will she still go out with Benjamin?


	12. Confessions & Hogsmeade

_**9.** _

_Sunday, October 9, 1977_

_**~*~** _

Sunday arrived before she knew it. Alice had anticipated the day with mixed feelings, which were hard for her to grasp or put into words.

On one hand, she _was_ still as genuinely thrilled about the prospect of going to Hogsmeade with Benjamin as she had been for the last few weeks. The tall, dark-haired Hufflepuff Quidditch captain was extremely handsome, generally popular and sweet and she’d always loved chatting to him the handful of times they’d talked. Alice considered him to be quite grown-up for his age and rather intelligent and eloquent. At the very least they would be able to have a proper conversation at their date and that in itself was worth something.

At the same time, the Head Girl was also eager to go out on a real date again. Her last one had been over a year ago when Kumboh Blunt – a boy from Ravenclaw – had asked her out, and she felt like it was time to put herself out there again.

They’d had a picnic next to the Great Lake and while it had certainly been fun and she’d felt like she could talk to him very well, Alice had realized fairly soon that her feelings for him were mostly platonic. Fortunately, he’d taken her rejection in stride and they actually remained good friends to this day.

Still, sometimes in a moment of weakness, Alice felt the thought creeping up in her head if everything was alright with the way her brain – and heart – worked. That was because as far as she knew, she’d never been in love.

Obviously, she had been physically attracted to people before, had made out with boys and even slept with two of them (one of them a Muggle she’d met last summer at a garden party in her neighbourhood, the other one Jacob Black), but those short flings could barely qualify as a crush, let alone love.

She caught herself thinking about that boy at the garden party last summer again.

While Alice had not been _that_ attracted to Jacob (sure, he was tall and well-built and other girls most definitely thought he was sexy), it had somehow been a different story with him.

If Alice was entirely honest with herself, she had to admit that she could not even remember his name. But she certainly remembered his _body_. For the first time in her seventeen years, she’d really understood what her friends had meant when they talked about having this invisible pull toward someone, the type of physical attraction that could not be ignored. The guy had been tall and lean, but still muscular. But while that had been sexy, the most intriguing feature about him had been that beautiful, breathtaking smile. Alice had been lost the moment she’d first seen it, in her mind already coming to terms with the fact that they would end up sleeping together, that it was inevitable.

With him, it had only happened once and while it had been amazing, the Head Girl still hadn’t felt the desire to see him again. When trying to put it into words, Alice couldn’t even explain why exactly she’d felt that way. Maybe because he was a Muggle and she couldn’t tell him anything about her life. Or maybe it was the fact that she could never love him anyway, because of her weird inability to fall for someone. Perhaps she’d felt like she could spare him the disappointment before he was even capable of developing feelings for her.

No, Alice sighed mentally. She had never been in love.

But, back to today.

While she truly _was_ excited about her and Benjamin’s date this afternoon, she was also dreading it.

Ever since the party on Friday, when she had not only admitted to herself that she might have some conflicting feelings for Jasper and was clearly attracted to him on a physical level, but also that she was _jealous_ of whatever thing he had going on with Maria, Alice had thought about the blond boy constantly. Never before in her life had she wasted so many thoughts on a boy, let alone one she had despised for most her life, so it was needless to say that the whole thing confused her immensely.

But no matter how hard she tried to push the thoughts to the back of her mind, it wasn’t working.

And it felt wrong to go on a date with someone while having such confusing feelings for another person.

She hadn’t seen Jasper since the party on Friday night. Alice had no idea when he’d left the party that evening because she hadn’t slept in her own dormitory on the night from Friday to Saturday; she had accompanied Bella and Rosalie to theirs and had fallen asleep on her old bed, too drunk and tired to care much about anything else.

What had surprised her the most, though, had been the fact that Jasper hadn’t shown up for their tutoring lesson yesterday. She had hoped to see him there and maybe talk to him about what had happened at the party, but he simply hadn’t been there. The thought that he was so mad – or disappointed, which was much worse – at her that he couldn’t even do the tutoring with her, had left her with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

She had considered that perhaps he was still with Maria.

When Alice had gotten back to the Astronomy Tower on Saturday night, it had been quite late, and Jasper had either already been asleep or still out and about somewhere in the castle. For a brief moment, Alice had almost made up her mind to stay up and wait for him but had immediately dismissed the thought.

While she longed to apologize, or explain herself, or simply talk to him to find out what exactly was going on here, Alice could also not lie to herself any longer. She was afraid of the truth. Something had changed in her dynamic with Jasper and while she was not quite sure what that was, Alice knew she had to figure it out fast, for both her own sake and for Benjamin’s.

The Head Girl had made up her mind to think about it tonight, as soon as she got back from Hogsmeade with the Hufflepuff. It felt like the right time. Perhaps then, Alice would be smarter about what she felt for Benjamin, too, and could make an informed and well-thought-out decision what to do about her relationship with both boys.

Deep-down, she knew it wasn’t fair to either of them, but it wasn’t like she had promised them anything.

After all, she was not in love – or anywhere close to that – with either of them.

“Alice!”, Rosalie exclaimed at that moment, pulling her from her reverie.

The two girls were at Rosalie’s – _her_ old - dorm, figuring out how to style Alice’s hair for the day. Bella had quickly excused herself once the conversations had started to revolve around clothes. The brown-haired girl didn’t care much for fashion and beauty. Alice had rolled her eyes at her hastily made-up excuse.

“Sorry.”, she muttered, and Rosalie laughed.

“You’re a million miles away.” The blonde sighed. Then, with a raised eyebrow, she asked: “Are you thinking about your date?”

Alice nodded.

While she had somewhat admitted to herself over the last two days that she had these strange feelings for Jasper, she couldn’t really tell Rosalie about them yet. It was bad enough that the other girl knew about her physical attraction to Whitlock, but her being _jealous_ of Maria now was a whole new level. It was still hard for Alice to grasp the concept herself, after all.

Mentally, she groaned. It was going to be an utter shit-show, telling Rosalie or Bella about this. She would never ever live it down, that much was certain.

At the same time, Alice was a little worried that Rosalie would tell Emmett, who would then – without a doubt – tell Jasper, and that was the last thing she needed. There was absolutely no way she would do anything to get his hopes up _again_ before she had made an actual decision about how to handle this situation.

It wasn’t like Alice had suddenly changed her mind about going out with him. Sure, she was jealous of Maria and attracted to him, but maybe she could nip this in the bud before it got worse. It was still Whitlock after all.

So it was easier to lie for now and pretend that she was only nervous and excited about her date and not give anything else away about her emotional turmoil.

“Don’t worry.” Rosalie’s voice was soft. “You look absolutely ravishing. He’ll fall head over heels for you the moment he sees you.”

“That’s what I’m worried about” It came out as a joke and her friend laughed, but in reality, Alice wasn’t so sure it wasn’t at least half-true.

Because if she was honest, she had to admit that she _was_ genuinely concerned about that. She’d had a crush on Benjamin for a while, but it had never felt anything like her confusing emotions about Jasper the other day. And the last thing she needed was _another_ boy having some type of feelings for her. Her love life – if one could even call it that – was weird enough already.

“Are you coming, too?”, the Head Girl asked.

They hadn’t really discussed Hogsmeade outside of her date, so that Alice now had to realize she had no idea about her friend’s plans. Thankfully, Rosalie didn’t seem to be upset about her lack of knowledge about her life and smiled.

“Yes, with McCarty and his boys. I think Bella and Edward are coming, too. We wanted to go to _Spintwitches Sporting Needs_ because Edward needs a new broom. Remember Quidditch try-outs, when June Richardson fell off her broom and Masen saved her, but flew them both straight into the Tower?”

Alice nodded to indicate that she did remember.

“Well, he seems to have damaged his broom during that stunt and needs a new one.” She was laughing as if she thought that was the most foolish thing in the world.

Alice, on the other hand, was still thinking about the first part of Rosalie’s statement. McCarty and his _boys_?

“Ah, so the… eh, other Marauders are coming, too?” She had asked innocently enough, Alice thought, but Rosalie was too perceptive as to not pick up on that.

Her friend had been acting very strange since the party on Friday night and she wondered if it had anything to do with her conversations with Jasper and James. They seemed to have affected her more than she led on.

“Sure, why?” She raised her eyebrow suspiciously.

“No reason,” Alice said, too quickly, running her hand through her hair. “I was just wondering since when _you_ were hanging out with them, is all.”

Rosalie grinned. “ _Is_ that all?”

The Head Girl pretended to not have any idea what the blonde was talking about. “What do you mean?”

Her friend wasn’t fooled. “Oh, you know, just wondering… if you weren’t _really_ inquiring about a certain, extremely attractive Quidditch Captain that you seemed to grow quite close with over the last few weeks.” Rosalie was teasing her friend but regretted the words as soon as they’d left her mouth.

The truth was, she had no idea if Alice had even spoken to Jasper at all since Friday night when she’d virtually told him that she was just never going to be interested in him the way he hoped. Or at least she’d hinted at it.

Either way, it seemed to be a sensitive topic for her friend.

Alice hated herself for blushing again, but recovered quickly. Rosalie found herself wondering in astonishment if perhaps Alice did not have a crush on Jasper after all.

“Uh, Rose, _Benjamin_ is going with me, you know that right?” Alice put a special emphasis on his name and Rosalie giggled.

“Good Lord, I’d forgotten that Amun was Quidditch captain, too. Do you know how many girls at our school probably want to murder you right now? And you don’t even give a fuck about Quidditch!”

Alice laughed; her previous tension was gone.

“Yeah, that’s why I pick them.” Her tone was sarcastic, and she got another side-glance from Rosalie.

She looked back at her friend questioningly. Rosalie seemed to struggle with something for a second, but then clearly decided to say what she wanted to say despite her doubts.

“So, you _did?_ Grow close to Jasper, I mean?” Her voice was probing, careful.

“Well… not really.” And when she saw Rosalie’s somewhat disappointed expression, she added: “I mean, apart from that disaster of a conversation we’ve had on Friday, the last couple of times we talked were actually kind of nice… But I guess I’ve ruined that now, haven’t I? He’s probably never going to speak to me again.”

Her blond friend overlooked the second part of her statement.

“ _So,_ they were kind of _nice_ , your conversations with Jasper, weren’t they?” Rosalie repeated her words teasingly, clearly determined not to let Alice off the hook so easily this time.

The dark-haired witch shrugged nonchalantly.

“Sure. As you said, he can actually be alright when he makes an effort.” She tried to downplay the whole thing, but that had never worked with Rosalie.

“You can say whatever you want, I won’t believe you.” Her friend grinned amusedly. “I still can’t _fathom_ that you like Whitlock. But after how upset you were after your argument on Friday, there’s no other explanation for it. You do like him. And you regret hurting him.” She let out a dry laugh. “Let’s be honest, if somebody had told me that last year, I would’ve admitted myself – and you, too, by the way – into the nuthouse without hesitation.”

Alice remembered how she’d had a remarkably similar thought after the Quidditch try-outs, but still flinched at how obvious the entire situation appeared to be to Rosalie. Her friend had this talent of seeing straight through her.

“I know the feeling.” She hissed the words through clenched teeth.

Rosalie took that precisely as what it really was: an admission of guilt.

“I knew it.” And then she muttered something else under her breath.

Alice pricked up her ears. “What was that?”

Rosalie at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed now.

“Don’t get mad, okay?”, she asked, and her friend raised one eyebrow questioningly.

“Well, Emmett and I kind of have this bet going on.” Rosalie began and Alice stared at her incredulously. The blonde ignored the gaze and continued: “Well… that Jasper would _eventually_ wear down your resistance. It’s really silly, I know, and it was a long time ago, but…”

“ _What?”_ Alice could not believe what she was hearing.

Her voice came out as a shriek and Rosalie ducked her head defensively.

“ _When_? When did you make that bet?”

Rosalie laughed apologetically. “Two years ago. I’m not sure he even remembers it. Like I said, it was really silly. But that was the time when we felt like Whitlock wasn’t doing it for the single purpose of annoying you anymore… he kind of started _really_ liking you at the time, you know?”

“ _So you bet against me?”_ Another shriek. Alice was actually furious.

The blond witch was not impressed and chuckled. “Well, Emmett said there was no way in hell that would ever happen, but I felt like Jasper could be charming if he wanted, even though he didn’t know how to effectively use that back then… I just thought if he actually pulled himself together and unleashed that on you, you wouldn’t stand a chance.” Rosalie grinned.

“Sorry.”, she added, when she saw her friend’s face.

Alice had to digest that. Two years ago!

“I would have hexed you if I’d found out back then.” She genuinely meant it. Two years ago, she might have even ended her friendship with Rosalie over something like that.

At the same time, Alice was surprised that Rosalie had known about “that charm thing” Jasper had when she herself had not noticed it all these years. As far as the dark-haired witch was aware, Rose and Jasper had never been friends or had even spent enough time together for her to notice that. How had everyone at this school been aware of this, while she had been so blind?

“Believe me, I know.” Rosalie sighed. Then she turned to face her friend again, giving her a serious glance. “Can I be honest with you? And you’ll promise not to jinx me?”

Alice looked at her suspiciously. “I can’t promise that.”

The blonde grinned again, but she was more serious now, finally done with the teasing. Alice gulped, not knowing what to expect.

“As I said, please don’t hex me, but… I truly believe you should give Whitlock a chance, you know?” Rosalie said. Alice was staring at her, not knowing what to say. The blonde couldn’t possibly be serious about that? Give Whitlock a chance?

Rosalie wasn’t finished.

“I’ve told you about how I apologized to Jasper for that horrendous situation in the Astronomy Tower, haven’t I?”

Alice nodded. She remembered it vividly, better than she cared to.

“All these previous years, I was completely with you, you know, with your opinion about Whitlock being a pretentious show-off. He totally _was_ a dickhead, there is no other way of saying this. But at that moment, he was so… I don’t know. _Genuine_ , I guess. And he was so nice about the whole thing, forgiving me immediately and selecting me for the team and all that. So, yeah. I honestly think you should give him a chance because I feel like that boy would do _anything_ for you. And I think you guys would be good together if you simply got over yourself and admitted it.” Rosalie concluded, looking almost worried when she met Alice’s eyes again as if she thought her best friend was going to freak out.

Alice was utterly speechless. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out and she closed it again. That full process repeated itself three times before she gave up.

Jasper Whitlock being _genuine_? The concept had never crossed her mind. Mostly, because for all her life she’d known him only as this prankster, this bully, this arrogant asshole, who took _nothing_ serious in life. Except perhaps his friends, she had to give that to him. And Rosalie thought they would be good together? _What the actual hell_?

But at the same time… hadn’t she decided to stop lying to herself? She had those new, conflicting feelings for him, after all. He _had_ changed drastically over the summer and those last couple of weeks.

And… occasionally, Alice had caught herself thinking that same thing. That maybe he _did_ deserve a chance.

Rosalie was still looking at her like she was short-circuiting and she tried to reign in her emotions. She felt like her face was entirely drained of colour.

Then, she exhaled deeply, giving up her resistance. “I guess it would be pointless to try to deny that Whitlock has grown on me over these last couple of weeks, wouldn’t it?”

Her friend grinned now, clearly relieved that she didn’t seem to be angry. “Yup.”

“Fine.” Alice decided to surrender fully. “He has. I think he actually managed to win me over a little. At least as friends, you know. I’ve realized on Friday that I do care about him and – as you said – don’t enjoy seeing him hurt anymore. And I also – but you already know this – am kind of attracted to him, I guess. I will admit that he can be pretty hot sometimes.”

She stopped because Rosalie’s grin had gotten even wider.

“But I also like Benjamin and have had a crush on him for a while, too. So, I will go out on that date with him today. And I’ve decided I will think about it afterwards, tonight. What I’m going to do, I mean. Whether I should still pursue this thing with Benjamin or end it now before he gets more attached. And what to do about… my _feelings_ for Jasper. Maybe it won’t even matter anymore. Maybe Jasper will not forgive me this time and has really decided to move on. But even then I couldn’t go out with Benjamin, because it wouldn’t be fair to him.” Alice’s voice sounded almost defensive during her little speech and she only now dared to look back at her friend.

But Rosalie just nodded understandingly. Internally, the blonde was still shocked about this revelation, but didn’t it make sense somehow?

Wasn’t it the same with her and Emmett? Wasn’t the one person that infuriated her the most also the person she wanted to be with more than anybody else?

She really had been right about this all along. Love, Lust and Loathing really _could_ blend into each other easily.

“Let’s get you ready for that date, then.”

_**~*~** _

__

The trip to Hogsmeade was awful.

Jasper had already anticipated that he was going to regret going, but since all of his friends wanted to and he had no interest in staying at the castle on his own, he’d agreed. They were on their way to the village now, stomping through puddles of rain and mud.

Emmett had suggested they apparated, but since Ben was not yet seventeen and was therefore not allowed to, they were walking instead. Jasper felt certain that Seth had been relieved. He was not as confident as the blond Head Boy and Emmett when it came to Apparition, despite having passed his test a couple of months ago after his second attempt.

Rosalie had been annoyed. She was walking next to them, alongside Bella and Edward, but had not dressed for a longer walk, especially not in this type of weather. It had been raining heavily throughout the entire night and morning and the ground had practically turned into a swamp. Their shoes went inches deep into the mud with each step. The sky seemed to reflect the way Jasper felt inside. Meaning, it was absolute misery.

When Rosalie had complained about the weather earlier at breakfast, Jasper had to kick Ben under the table. The other boy had almost proposed they could use one of the secret passageways leading from the school to the village in order to stay dry.

Sometimes, Jasper wondered how his friends would cope without him. It had been one of those moments.

Apparently, he owned the only brain cell in their entire group.

On the other hand, that was probably unfair to Seth, who was just as good at keeping secrets as Jasper was. Most likely because he’d been living with his own for his entire life.

The whole duration of the way, Emmett and Rosalie were bickering about the weather, her shoes that were now ruined, as well as countless other things. Jasper had stopped listening after a while and instead caught up with Edward and Bella who had been walking upfront. He had started a conversation with his Keeper about which broom the bronze-haired boy planned on buying.

Bella had simply rolled her eyes and purposely fallen behind.

When they finally reached the village, all of them were completely soaked, muddy and most of all - _irritated_ : Rosalie about her shoes, Emmett about Rosalie, Bella about brooms and her boyfriend, Ben about the fact that Jasper had snapped at him earlier asking him to be more careful with their secrets, Seth because he generally felt quite miserable today and Jasper… _well_.

The girl he liked was on a date with another guy at this very moment and she would never like him the way he liked her. He had plenty of reasons to be irritated.

Literally, _Edward_ – of all people – was the only one who was still in a good mood. It felt like a parallel universe.

Jasper already regretted joining his friends. He should have stayed at the castle for once. Maybe then, he’d be sitting in his cosy common room in the Astronomy Tower right now, reading a good book, instead of stomping through the mud in his soaked clothes. Hell, he even would have preferred to do some of his homework… anything would be better than this.

Yesterday, he had spent all day moping about his conversation with Alice on Friday, and her revelation that she had originally planned to go to the party with Benjamin. It was still painful to think about it and for the majority of his weekend, Jasper had only felt like licking his wounds and do absolutely nothing but wallow in self-pity.

Seth was the one who had convinced him to get out of the Castle to get some distraction, and Jasper, stupid as he was, had agreed.

The conversation of the others pulled Jasper from his thoughts. They were standing in the street at the entrance to the village by now, Emmett already contemplating whether he should get drunk at _The Three Broomsticks Inn_. The Head Boy was seriously considering joining him.

After all, this was the first time they were technically allowed to. The last time they had been at Hogsmeade, had been last February and neither he nor Seth had been seventeen yet at the time. Therefore, neither of them had legally been allowed to drink highly alcoholic beverages at a pub. Not that it had really bothered them back then. They knew their ways to get what they wanted and bend the rules.

Before the group could decide where to go first, suddenly a familiar voice was shouting his name from across the street. The friends turned in the direction of the speaker.

“Jazz!”

It was Maria. Annoyed, Jasper sighed mentally. This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

The dark-haired girl walked towards them with her wand raised over her head and Jasper couldn’t help but feel a little stupid all of a sudden.

Of course.

Why hadn’t they thought of just casting a spell to keep the rain away like an umbrella?

Rosalie seemingly had the same thought, because she grunted in annoyance before whispering something in Emmett’s ear and the two disappeared around the next corner of the street.

 _Great_ , Jasper thought. So much for doing something nice together.

Maria had reached him now, embracing him. She kissed him on the cheek before he could turn away. As was usual for her, she didn’t pay any attention to his friends, pretending they didn’t exist.

He hugged her back half-heartedly, not really feeling in the mood to deal with her right now. Already regretting what had happened between them on Friday, he didn’t want to encourage her any further.

“I’m here with Newton and Crowley, but Merlin’s Beard, they are pathetically boring.” Maria laughed dryly.

Jasper rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what Newton and Crowley were hoping to get out this deal, but he didn’t think it was very likely. Maria was not interested in sleeping with either of those boys.

Jasper’s relationship with Maria had been strange from the beginning. She’d been the first girl he’d slept with, on the day of his sixteenth birthday. Before that, they had made out a couple of times, usually after a Quidditch victory, sometimes in a broom closet, at the stadium or in a dark corner of a hallway. It had been exciting at first, to sneak around like that. That feeling had subsided rather quickly.

Not that Maria had any problem with people knowing about them. The whole school did. Jasper had never fooled himself into thinking he was the only person she was sleeping with. She was very open-minded and enjoyed sex and that was the reason why he liked her in the first place. He’d never been interested in a relationship and neither was she.

Jasper had made that very clear from the beginning and she’d accepted it without hesitation, feeling the same way. He suspected that Maria simply didn’t enjoy being monogamous.

 _His_ reason for not wanting to enter into any kind of serious relationship with Maria, on the other hand, was rather pathetic; if Jasper was completely honest with himself, he had to admit that he had always hoped one day Brandon would change her mind and finally say yes to him asking her out.

Alice Brandon had always been the only girl he wanted to date.

Foolish as he was, it hadn’t really occurred to him until this summer, that sleeping with Maria while at the same time trying to change his ways to make Alice like him, would _probably_ not be the path to success. Therefore, one of the first things he’d done, once he’d arrived at Hogwarts at the beginning of this year, was to find Maria and tell her that their friends-with-benefits relationship had to end.

Maria hadn’t been upset about it. Jasper had been under the impression that she didn’t believe he would stay away for long.

She had not been wrong, because he had slipped up twice already. The first time had been that night at the Gryffindor common room, on the day Rosalie returned to Hogwarts. They hadn’t done it that night, only snogged, but still. His self-control hadn’t been the best.

But then again, at that point, he hadn’t made any progress with Alice yet, and quite frankly, he’d been frustrated. Maybe he’d wanted to find out if he’d still had _it_ … meaning, his charm and ability to make most girls drool over him within a few minutes.

Apparently, he did, but he’d still felt awful and had told Maria it wasn’t going to happen again. She’d given him that sceptical look once more, making it more than clear she still did not believe him.

And then, Friday had come around and with it that debacle of a situation with Alice. He’d felt like the entire progress he had made with her had once more been crushed. Perhaps Jasper finally had to come to terms with the fact that she was never going to be into him.

Pathetically, he’d turned to Maria once more.

Again, they hadn’t slept together, because he really hadn’t felt like it that night, with his heart broken and all that, but he had kissed her in front of the common room after walking her back to her dormitory. They’d ended up making out heavily against the castle hallway. Jasper had stopped before it got too far, but he realized that the signals he was still sending Maria’s way, were definitely not helping his situation.

So far, he’d only been proving Maria’s disbelief right and had always crawled back to her. Mostly, whenever he was upset about Alice.

 _It had to stop,_ and he knew it.

Jasper shrugged at the dark-haired girl, not sure what Maria was expecting him to say right now. She knew he agreed that Newton and Crowley were boring. And if she thought that it would make him jealous that they had taken her to Hogsmeade, then she was gravely mistaken. As far as he was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted with whomever. At least, Jasper hoped she knew that. The other day at lunch she had been acting strangely jealous toward Alice.

Apparently, though, Maria didn’t expect him to say anything. She slid her hand into his and whispered, “Come to _Gladrags Wizardwear_ with me,” already trying to pull him in that direction.

From the sound of her voice, Jasper gathered that there was some kind of sexual intention here. _Everything_ sounded sexual coming from her lips.

Jasper shook his head vehemently. “I’m going to _Spintwitches_ with Edward and Bella.”

He gestured to his friends, who still stood there awkwardly, entirely ignored by Maria. For the first time, she had to acknowledge them. Glaring at the pair for one second, she seemed to decide that she did not like what she saw before turning back to him.

“Oh, _come on_ , Jazz!” It came out as a moan. She sounded like a spoilt brat now.

He shook his head again. “Sorry, Maria, but I promised. And I actually want to go there myself. Edward is my Keeper after all, so I want to make sure he gets a decent broom. Maybe it will make the difference and win us the title this year.”

Maria rolled her eyes but did not easily let him go. “Fine. I’m coming with you guys.”

Jasper could see Bella and Edward’s annoyed expressions out of the corner of his eyes. Truthfully, he also wasn’t too keen on the idea of having to drag Maria with them the whole time. Especially when she was like this.

Perhaps the reason he didn’t want to have her around on this trip, was also because he didn’t fully trust himself not to give in when she threw herself at him like this. After all, he was still in pain from the interaction with Alice, and Maria was _tempting_. Jasper didn’t seriously think he would, though. He felt like he’d really learned his lesson this time.

But then again, Alice was here with _Benjamin_.

Sighing, the Head Boy looked at Maria and said – hopefully too quiet for the others to hear: “No, Maria. You came here with Newton and Crowley, I came with my friends, who you don’t want to hang out with. You should go back to them. We can see each other back at the castle all the time, but right now I just want to buy a _bloody_ broom with Edward, okay?” The last sentence came out way harsher than he’d planned.

Maria seemed taken aback by his brutal honesty and let go of his hand in annoyance. “ _Fine_.”

She was hissing it – definitely _angry_ , Jasper analysed –, before turning around and walking away in the opposite direction.

Edward exhaled in relief. “Thank God.”

He didn’t even bat an eyelid when Jasper glanced at him, his eyebrow raised.

“What? I don’t like her.” Edward shrugged nonchalantly and Jasper couldn’t stifle his laugh. Turning, he realized that Bella looked relieved, too.

Only then, did the Head Boy notice that Ben and Seth were nowhere to be found. Probably, they’d gone after Rosalie and Emmett, he figured.

“What exactly happened to ‘it’ll be a group thing, it’ll be fun’?”, Jasper wondered more to himself, but at the same time sarcastically to Edward and Bella, and both of them laughed.

“I think they went with Rosalie and Emmett to the pub.” Bella sounded like she wanted to join them.

Jasper sighed. “I think I need to go there, too, after we’re done at the broom shop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I had to break the Hogsmeade visit into two parts. Next chapter will be coming soon!


	13. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Benjamin and Alice's date is finally (?) happening. Jasper goes broom-shopping with Edward and Bella.

_______________

Alice tried to enjoy herself, she really did. It just wasn’t working.

Benjamin wasn’t at fault at all. He’d been nothing but sweet. From the moments when he’d picked her up in front of the portrait of the silver mermaid, their short walk through the castle and their Apparition to Hogsmeade, to _now,_ with both of them sitting across from each other at _Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop,_ Benjamin had been nothing short of a perfect gentleman.

The classic Muggle phrase “It isn’t you, it’s me” came to Alice’s mind while they were sitting there, chatting about small matters. She’d never really believed in that statement until this day.

Because she was trying _so_ _hard_ to like him.

While he had been talking about his last trip to Egypt, where he was originally from, she’d taken the time to look at him, wondering why she couldn’t.

It definitely didn’t have anything to do with his appearance. His smile was beautiful, and he had those adorable dimples that had once made her swoon. His black hair and boyish features made him generally very handsome and Alice had seen how all of the girls were staring at him.

And he was considerate, too.

He’d asked her questions about her life, school, her family and even seemed to be genuinely interested in her parent’s life, despite the fact that they were Muggles.

Benjamin himself – as she’d already known, of course – was a Pure-Blood, but he did not give her the impression that it bothered him she was Muggle-born, like some people did.

Just now, he’d been telling her about his siblings, all while beaming at her brightly. Despite her unease she couldn’t help but smile back nervously. It was obvious that he was more than happy to be here with her.

The reason for her discomfort was the fact that while she was sitting here – talking to Benjamin and getting to know him – all she _really_ wanted to do was to look outside, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of _Jasper_.

She knew he was here in the village somewhere, with his friends and hers and all she wanted to do was join them.

It was pathetic, really. Mostly, it was unfair to Benjamin.

Alice had been contemplating telling him the truth after about half an hour into their conversation. Surely, he wouldn’t be too upset about it. It was their first date and they didn’t know each other all that well.

But then, he’d just seemed so enthusiastic about being here with her and had started to talk about how much he’d been looking forward to this and she hadn’t had the heart to disappoint him. She knew she would have to, eventually, but just couldn’t do it at that moment.

They’d been here for two hours now and she still hadn’t found the courage to do so. And with each minute Alice was putting it off, she felt worse.

She longed to leave and find her friends, who were probably sitting at the _Three Broomsticks_ right now, having a great time.

Hell, she even would have preferred to be at _Spintwitches_ of all places! Alice didn’t know a thing about Quidditch or about brooms, but at least she would be there with Bella and Edward and _Jasper…_

“Alice?” Benjamin’s voice brought her back from her reverie. He was looking at her with a – thankfully – amused impression.

“Sorry!” Embarrassed, she noticed that her cheeks felt flushed again (well, at least she knew now that it didn’t just happen in Whitlock’s presence). “I must have been daydreaming. What were you saying about your sister?”

Benjamin laughed.

“I was actually asking about _your_ sister.”, he corrected with a grin and Alice wished the ground would swallow her whole, but he didn’t seem to be upset. “She’s a Muggle, too?”

Alice nodded. “Yes, Cynthia is a Muggle. Actually, she’s pretty much the poster example for a Muggle. She was so mad at me when I got my acceptance letter from Hogwarts, you know. I feel like she’s never forgiven me. In the beginning, it was jealousy I think, because my parents were so excited, but I feel like it has turned into pure distaste for everything even remotely related to the Wizarding World over the last few years. When I’m back home, I can’t mention a single thing about magic or she will skin me alive.”

Benjamin nodded sympathetically. “That must be hard.”

“Yes. We used to be close before, up until I was eleven. And she also didn’t like my former best friend…” Alice stopped, because she really didn’t want to talk about James right now.

Unfortunately, Benjamin didn’t seem to get the hint.

“You were best friends with James Lewis, right?” His voice had turned quite serious now.

Alice nodded absent-mindedly, distracted while thinking back to the beginnings of their friendship. How he’d explained magic and the Wizarding World to her. How they’d played together. Back in the day, it hadn’t mattered to him that her parents were Muggles.

“I don’t like him, I’m afraid.” Benjamin said at that moment, bringing her back to reality.

She raised one eyebrow questioningly. Not that this news really surprised her. Nobody apart from his weird Slytherin friends liked James these days.

Benjamin clearly thought she was offended by his words and hurried to say: “I mean, if _you_ like him, that’s completely fine! It’s just… he gives off strange vibes. I can’t really describe it. Like kind of scary, in a way.”

“He and his friends want to join the Death Eater once they’re done with school.” Alice said dryly, interested in his reaction.

His eyes widened and he seemed surprised at her tone. “ _What the hell_?”

Alice smiled at him reassuringly. “Like I said, he’s my _former_ best friend. I haven’t really spoken to him for about two years now, because you are right: the person he is now _truly_ is scary.”

Benjamin visibly relaxed, before shooting her another serious glance. “I also don’t really like the way he looks at you, to be honest.”

Alice simply stared at him, not sure what to make of that. Benjamin paid attention to the way James was looking at her? And what did he mean by that?

“What do you mean?”

The dark-haired boy sighed and explained: “Like he’s in love with you, but in a creepy way. You know? Like an obsessive, stalkery-kind-of way? I don’t know if that makes sense. But he seems like the kind of guy that would hurt you. At least that’s my impression.”

That shocked her. Mostly, because she’d never thought about it this way, but had a feeling that Benjamin might be right about it. Not so much the part about hurting _her_ , though, because she did not believe James would do that _,_ but he would certainly not hesitate to hurt _other people_. But he was definitely right about the obsessive, weird looks James gave her sometimes.

“Maybe you’re right.” Alice admitted. “But it’s not like it really matters. We don’t talk anymore. He thinks I’m a _dirty_ _little_ _Mudblood_.” The last sentence came out more bitterly than she’d planned.

Benjamin’s eyes widened with anger. “That’s what he said to you?”

His voice was thick with rage and incredulity – he sounded just like Jasper the other day, when she’d called herself that, ironically – and Alice nodded.

It was once more a reminder that for all these Pure-Bloods, it was pretty much the worst insult one could make. Sighing mentally, she swallowed her frustration.

He clenched his jaw. “I can kind of see now, why Whitlock and McCarty hate the bastard so much. I’d never had the particular desire the hex anyone, but maybe I would make an exception for Lewis.”

Alice felt as if her heart stopped when he mentioned Jasper.

It made sense that he did, because it was no secret at Hogwarts that James and Jasper were archenemies of sorts and that they’d been constantly fighting throughout their entire time at school.

But still… It felt like a sign. Maybe she should say something _now_.

Benjamin hadn’t noticed her discomfort and looked at her directly with a questioning glance.

“Speaking of Whitlock… what _is_ the deal with that?”

Suddenly, Alice felt like someone had pulled the chair away from under her. She was blushing so hard that it was embarrassing on its own. At the same time, she couldn’t meet his eye, staring at her tea cup instead, feeling sick all of a sudden.

“Eh… what… what do you mean?”, she stammered.

Benjamin seemed to be confused by her intense response. “Whitlock and Lewis? Is that about _you_ or is there more to the story?” He grinned. “I mean, I’ve always thought that their rivalry was, in part at least, about you… is that true?”

Alice realized that he was still just talking about the same topic they had before.

It was the natural run down of things: From Lewis to Whitlock, from both of them to her.

All Benjamin had done, was make the connection. She felt herself relax a little, although still being at unease.

“Oh, yes. I mean, they just hated each other from the first moment they’ve met. I just became involved because I was defending James from Whitlock and then we’d kind of started hating each other, too.”

Benjamin laughed. “Still, it wasn’t always about that. Like I said, Lewis is in love with you and seems to think he has some kind of weird, creepy claim over you… and Whitlock… well, _everyone_ knows about him. He’s got a crush on you, too, as I’m sure you’re aware of. It’s not like he’s been keeping it a secret. So that’s probably one of the reasons why they hate each other.”

Alice was staring at him again, this time more surprised than shocked. And for some reason, not even unpleasantly. _Everyone knows… got a crush on you…_ She was spinning and twisting the words around in her head. It didn’t sound so bad.

But of course, this wasn’t really news.

Alice had been aware that the whole school did in fact know about Jasper’s _crush_ on her, because as Benjamin had said, he had never even tried to make it a secret.

But that someone from another House would so casually mention it in a conversation as if it was one of the Wizarding Laws, was still incredibly strange. Everyone at Hogwarts seemed to have just accepted Jasper’s feelings for her as one of those things that were certain in life.

She needed to get out of here, she realized.

“Listen, Benjamin…”, she began.

_______________

Finding the right broom for Edward turned out to be a lot harder than anticipated.

Not, that there had been many options or even price ranges, Jasper thought. It was more due to the fact that Edward was annoyingly demanding and could not make up his mind about anything.

When Jasper and his father had gone to Diagon Alley to buy the blond boy’s broom, it had taken them all of ten minutes. He had sat on three different versions and had tested out the agility and speed and had picked the one he’d liked the most. Easy.

Nothing was ever easy with _Edward_.

Jasper was already beginning to wish he hadn’t sent Maria away. Not that that she wasn’t annoying, but he more and more felt like shagging his brain’s out would have been preferable to this.

His mood had been pretty bad the whole day anyway, simply because he knew that Alice was probably not far away, doing Merlin knew what with Benjamin Amun, but he hadn’t thought it would be possible for the day to get even worse. And yet, here he was.

Bella, who had been with Edward for four years and knew him better than anyone, wasn’t a big help. Worse, she even encouraged him to try out another broom, every time he found something he didn’t like in the current version.

And it wasn’t like Bella knew anything about brooms.

Jasper had internally groaned that one time she’d said something along the lines of “Oh, look, there’s another one in the corner right there” and then pointed at an actual broom.

Not a Wizarding broomstick. A broom to sweep your house.

 _Please, someone come and kill me_ , Jasper thought.

At some point, he’d sat down on one of the chairs next to the till, running his hand through is hair and was now just hoping for it to either be over or to fall asleep.

Every time he was spending time with Edward, he once more realized how lucky he was to have his Marauder friends. He meant no offense by this; Edward was a great guy and Jasper liked to spend time with him, like after Quidditch practice or during a lesson.

But unlike Emmett, Seth and Ben, the bronze-haired boy couldn’t really be trusted with the big secrets, the responsibilities, and things like having his back in a duel. That just wasn’t Edward.

The guy couldn’t even pick out a broomstick without having an existential crisis.

While he was sitting and waiting, Jasper had a lot of time to watch Bella and Edward’s dynamic, though, and that was pretty interesting. They seemed to move together without even realizing it, like they were mimicking each other. He also admired the way they were looking at each other. Like there really wasn’t anyone else in the world that mattered.

Normally, he wasn’t an envious person, but he couldn’t stifle the thought that it would be nice to have something like that.

Jasper realized he could not stay here for another second, watching their domestic happiness. He just wanted to join the others at the pub and get as drunk as was humanly possible.

“Hey Edward, Bella!” The pair turned to look at him. “I’m going to the Three Broomsticks. Sorry, but I’ve told you my opinion about which I would prefer. You’ll have to make up your mind yourself.”

Thankfully, neither Edward nor Bella seemed to be offended. Maybe they were glad to get some time alone together.

Jasper rushed over to the Inn, finding his friends immediately. Rosalie and Emmett already looked considerably drunk, Seth seemed very annoyed and Ben was sitting there, pathetically, with his only mildly alcoholic butterbeer in front of him.

While the Head Boy walked over to the group, a few people from his house greeted him and engaged him in short conversations, mostly about Quidditch. By the time he’d gotten rid of them, Rosalie and Emmett seemed to be in the middle of another argument about something.

Jasper resisted the urge to scream.

Instead, he sat down next to Ben. “Cheer up, Wormtail. You’ll be seventeen too, in a couple of weeks.”

Ben glared at him and Emmett and Seth roared with laughter at his expression. Jasper grinned as well, patting his friend on the back.

Emmett went back to his discussion with Rosalie. Jasper wasn’t listening to it until suddenly, Alice’s name was mentioned. He looked up immediately. As usual, they had his full attention then.

“… told me about Jacob and Bella, I couldn’t believe it!” Rosalie was saying at that moment, and Jasper frowned. What was going on with Bella and Black?

Emmett apparently did know, because he replied: “It’s so not like her, though, is it? She’s so _tame_ , usually.”

Rosalie gave him an irritated look. “ _Bella_ didn’t actually do anything, I think. Apparently, Jake has had a thing for her for a while. I wonder if that’s why he and Alice…” She broke off, realizing that Jasper was listening and stared at him in shock as if she’d said too much.

“Why he and Alice what, Rosalie?” Emmett didn’t get the memo.

“Shut up!”, she hissed at him, still looking wide-eyed at Jasper.

The Head Boy sighed mentally. Maybe he just had to get used to the pain. Maybe it would eventually get better. Now that he had surrendered himself to the idea that Alice would never feel the same way about him, it felt like he would have to try and get it over with. He had to move on.

Emmett was staring at him now, too. Jasper didn’t want them to feel like they always had to handle him with kid’s gloves whenever her name came up.

“Just fucking say it, Rosalie. It’s not like it really matters. I’ve given up. She can do whatever she wants with whomever she pleases. It’s none of my business.” It came out harsh and not at all like he didn’t care.

Rosalie’s eyes widened even more, and she looked like she was going to say something, before closing her mouth again. There was no way she could tell him about the conversation she’d had only just this morning with Alice. The other girl would kill her.

She decided that either way, Jasper still kind of deserved to know. Pretending she didn’t really care about his reaction after all, she shrugged and turned back to face Emmett. “Well, Jacob and Alice had this thing going on last spring. Sexually, I mean. She broke it off because it wasn’t serious at all and she didn’t love him or even particularly liked him, I think. But now I wonder if he did that to make Bella jealous.”

Jasper was surprised to find that that news didn’t hurt him as much as he’d anticipated. He wasn’t a virgin, so why would he expect Alice to be one? It would’ve hurt more if she’d had actual feelings for Black but clearly that wasn’t the case, so who was he to judge her?

Therefore, he was more surprised about Bella and Jacob, to be honest. “Black is in love with Bella?”, he asked the blonde.

Rosalie nodded, clearly relieved that he hadn’t jumped up and started to trash the room or something. “He is. And apparently, he kissed her the other day and she punched him in the face.”

“ _Badass_.”, Emmett said, roaring with laughter once more.

They kept talking about Bella and Jacob for a while, before moving on to other subjects, namely the fact that Ben had asked out Angela Weber after she’d broken up with her boyfriend last Thursday. She’d said no, because she was still caught up on the other guy, but had left open the possibility that it could happen at some point in the future.

Jasper couldn’t believe the fact that he was now envying Ben Cheney.

At least he had a slight chance.

They stayed at the Inn for almost the entire day, not leaving until it was dark outside. The weather had changed, and Seth and Ben decided to walk back to the Castle, while Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie – all of whom were quite drunk at this point – apparated back this time.

When Jasper walked back into his room, glad that he hadn’t met Alice in their common room, he just laid down on his bed, hoping to die.

Yes, he could be overly dramatic sometimes.

What a miserable day.

  
  


_**10.** _

_**~*~** _

_Monday, October 10, 1977_

While Alice was sitting in her Divination class on Monday morning, she thought back on the events of this weekend.

It had started off with Emmett and Rosalie’s conversation at the Great Lake and her friend admitting for the first time she loved Emmett, although the blonde hadn’t used the exact words. Alice was still shocked about that and already wondering what she would have to do to give these two idiots a push in the right direction. It was getting ridiculous at this point how much they wanted each other, but were simply too stubborn to admit it.

Then, Friday had happened with that disaster of a party. At least for her. All the other people who’d attended it, had seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Maybe except for Jasper and James. She shuddered when she remembered the expressions on their faces after she’d lashed out at them. But then again, Jasper had had Maria to comfort him immediately after, so maybe Alice shouldn’t feel too guilty about that.

But then he hadn’t shown up for tutoring on Saturday. That was when she’d known she’d really screwed up this time. In a weak, jealous moment, when Alice had thought about him with Maria, she had even considered telling McGonagall about his absence at the lesson.

It was, after all, mandatory for him to be there, since it was technically _detention_. But Alice had known immediately that she wasn’t going to do that. She had no desire to get Jasper into trouble anymore. Once, she might have done it, and maybe it would have even brought her great pleasure to see him be told off, but that desire had vanished.

Too much had changed between them since then.

And then Sunday. Her conversation with Rosalie in their dorm, when her friend had asked her to maybe give Jasper a chance. When she had called Jasper _genuine_.

And also on Sunday, her date with Benjamin.

The Hufflepuff had been disappointed, that much was for sure. Clearly, he had believed that this thing between them was going to work out. But once he’d gotten over that initial frustration, he’d even thanked her for her honesty.

Alice hadn’t told him the exact reason why it wasn’t going to work between them, though, meaning: she hadn’t said anything about Jasper. Benjamin had even asked if there was someone else and Alice had lied through her teeth and had told him there wasn’t. She didn’t think it would help if he knew.

Besides, the Head Girl didn’t even know where she stood with Jasper. She wasn’t going to go around telling people that she liked him. No, she would have to tell _him_ first.

She shuddered at the thought, an old reflex. He was going to be insufferable about it, she thought with annoyance.

“Alright, if you could all take your crystal balls and look into them.” Professor Firenze’s voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she stared sceptically at the thing on the table in front of her.

She didn’t really believe this was going to work and neither did the Professor himself from the looks of it, but he was obligated to follow the curriculum and crystal balls were on it this year.

“Miss Brandon, why don’t you start? Tell us what you see.” His voice was friendly and the whole class turned around to look at her. Alice felt herself blushing and pulled the ball closer towards her body, leaning over it.

Normally, she was pretty good at Divination and one of Professor Firenze’s favourite students, but this just seemed stupid. She would just make up something.

While she was staring at the ball, seeing absolutely nothing but her own reflection, she remarked dryly: “Eh, I will go to the library after school today to meet up with a friend and we will eat some pumpkin pasties?” That was at least what she and Bella had planned.

The rest of the class laughed, and even Professor Firenze couldn’t bite back his grin.

“Very funny, Miss Brandon.”, he remarked with humour.

But before he could move on to the next student, Alice was suddenly hit by something else. It was definitely _not_ in the crystal ball. Instead, it seemed to happen right in front of her eyes, as if she was actually there, actually experiencing it.

It was something more real. Something darker.

__

_**~*~** _

_She is outside._

_Or maybe she isn’t, because it isn’t really_ her _that’s there._

_She is standing next to the castle gate in the entrance hall, looking at the sunset over the Great Lake. Somehow, she knows it’s cold, only she can’t feel it. She can’t feel anything, she realizes. What is going on?_

_Nobody is here, just her._

_She has no idea why she is here. Waiting for something, she thinks, but she doesn’t know what. She looks around, trying to find answers. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. She hears the clock announce a time but doesn’t pay enough attention to find out_ what _time._

_After a short moment of waiting, she hears laughter and suddenly, four silhouettes appear out of thin air next to her. She bites back her scream of surprise. Where did they come from?_

_“Let’s get this over with. Cheer up, Seth. It’s just a few more times.”_

_She knows his voice, would know it anywhere._

_It’s Jasper. He’s shoving something – maybe a piece of clothing? – into his bag. Next to him are his friends, the other Marauders. Emmett, Seth and Ben. Did they apparate here? But that’s impossible. She knows people can’t apparate within the Castle or on school grounds._

_Seth says: “Yeah, for_ you _it is. For me, it will be going on like this for the rest of my life.”_

 _They walk out of the open gate next to her. She wonders_ why _the gate is open. It never is at this time._

_And how did they know it would be? Where are they going?_

_She follows them down the hill, walking behind them in some distance, but they can’t see her anyway. She realizes she’s not really here._

_Only her mind is._

_Emmett jokes around and pushes Jasper backwards, who’s laughing at that, nearly falling over. They’re really playful. Ben laughs at them, too, only Seth looks miserable. He always does these days. What did he mean by what he said? What does he have to continue doing for the rest of his life?_

_What_ are _they doing out here?_

_They walk towards the Whomping Willow. She stares after them with disbelief._

_Surely, they’re not stupid enough to get anywhere near that thing?_

_But there is nothing else they could be walking toward. It has to be the tree. She tries to warn them, think about how James nearly got killed by that thing a few years ago, but they can’t hear her. She is not really there._

_And then, Ben is gone. He’s disappeared. Vanished._

_She’s more than just a little shocked, but his friends don’t seem concerned. Did he apparate? But no, they're still on the castle grounds. It has to be a spell or something._

_So, she moves closer. She is trying to find out what is going on._

_Only then, does she realize that he’s_ not _disappeared._

_But he’s also not Ben anymore._

_Instead of Ben there is a rat sitting on the ground, squeaking._

_She is still reeling and stares at Jasper and Emmett in horror. Did one of them turn their friend into a rat? She knows they’re mischievous, but surely even_ they _wouldn’t do that to their own friend?_

_But neither of them seems to find anything strange about the situation. It’s like this happens every day. They seem used to it._

_The rat – or rather Ben – rushes toward the Tree now._

_He easily avoids the branches the tree throws at him trying to murder him, and finds a knot in one of the branches, jumping on it. The tree instantly calms down. She is astonished. They’ve done this before. They knew._

_Jasper and Emmett are still joking around._

_She can’t hear what they’re saying for some reason._

_Jasper playfully hits Emmett on the shoulder and suddenly, Emmett is gone, too._

_Instead, she watches, terror-stricken, as a giant black bear stands in his place, looking prepared to jump and eat Jasper in one bite._

_But the blond boy just chuckles._

_When the bear charges at him, she wants to scream. She’s never been so scared._

_She does scream. They don’t hear her. She’s not really here._

_She has no idea what’s going on here._

_And then, Jasper is gone, too._

_And in his place stands a golden lion, looking exactly like the one on Gryffindor’s emblem. He looks terrifying and powerful. She remembers how she’d once compared him to a lion, with his golden hair and golden eyes, but only now does she realize how right she had been._

_She can’t turn away. She is still terrified._

_The bear and the lion fight for a few moments, but she realizes very soon that it’s playful. They’re not trying to kill each other. She wants to exhale in relief, but she can’t. After all, her body isn’t here._

_Seth stands next to them and laughs, before walking toward the tree. He disappears into a hole at the foot of the tree that she has never noticed before. The lion and the bear follow him._

_Then everything turns black._

_**~*~** _

Alice came back to herself. She was in the classroom again. Professor Firenze was standing right in front of her, waving his hands before her eyes. He seemed worried.

“Miss Brandon? Are you alright?”

She realized everyone was staring at her and she had no idea what had just happened. What the hell _was_ that?

She started to reply: “I’m fine, Professor, I think I was just drea-…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she was gone again.

_**~*~** _

_This time, she’s inside._

_She’s in her own common room in the Astronomy Tower._

_Something else is different. This time, she feels like she’s really here._

_The reason she thinks that, is because this time, Jasper is looking straight at her._

_Clearly, this time, he can see her._

_She can tell that he looks miserable. Not only tired and wet and dirty like he’s just been outside rolling through puddles of mud, but like he’s close to tears, too. She’s never seen him like that before. It terrifies her almost as much as seeing the lion and the bear fight._

_“Leave me alone, Brandon.” It’s all he says before he turns away from her, walking toward his room. Are they having another argument? Why are they always fighting?_

_“It’s_ okay _, Jazz.” She hears her own voice say, but she hasn’t_ planned _to say it. It’s like she’s in her own body, but she doesn’t have any control over it. Her body moves of its own accord._

_Again, she’s just here to watch._

_But she can feel everything._

_Since when does she call him Jazz?_

_“It’s not!” His voice is harsh. He slams the door to the corridor in her face._

_She doesn’t stop. She follows him._

_“Everybody…”, he starts, sounding desperate all of a sudden. “Everybody is counting on me! My whole team has been counting on me. Do you know how that feels, Alice? Having to meet these sorts of expectations? And I’ve got my own expectations, too. I want to win this thing, one last time. I want people to remember me for this! I’m not surprised_ you _don’t get that.”_

_His voice is loud and unfriendly, even sad in a way and she feels like this would be a good time to leave him alone. He stalks into his room. Clearly, he is very upset about something._

_Only she doesn’t leave him alone._

_For some reason, she can’t stop her body. What the hell is she doing? This is a really bad idea._

_She follows him, opening the door to his room. He’s sitting on his bed, genuinely looking like he’s about to cry now._

_She knows she’s never been in here. His room is very tidy, which she didn’t expect, but she’s not paying attention to it presently. She is focused on him._

_She sits down next to him on his bed. Why is she sitting down so close to him?_

_“Go away!” Jasper’s voice is weaker now, not as demanding anymore._

_She feels herself shaking her head. “No.”_

_He looks up, surprised by her bluntness. She is surprised about that as well. Where did that come from? “What the hell do you want, Brandon?”_

_She smiles. “To be there for you. You’re right, I have no idea how you feel right now. I’m sure it won’t help if I tell you that it’s just a game…” She breaks off and grins, because Jasper snorts humourlessly._

_She soldiers on bravely regardless: “… but I do know what it feels like to be under pressure. I have been my entire life.”_

_He stares at her wordlessly. She feels herself being struck by how beautiful he is still, despite the sweat and the mud that covers his clothes. Despite the pained expression on his face. Despite the tears in his eyes._

_She finds herself thinking that he’s actually never looked more beautiful than at this moment._

_He looks so damn vulnerable._

_Like he’s about to open up his soul to her._

_“I’m sorry about that.” His voice is just a whisper. He’s clearly just as taken aback by their sudden closeness as she is._

_Her eyes wander down to his lips. There is nothing she can do. The pull is too strong._

_She looks up at him again and sees him watching her. He looks astonished. Like he can’t believe this is really happening._

_And then, he leans in._

_The world turns to black before she can find out what his lips taste like._

__

_**~*~** _

And then, she was back in the classroom again. She must’ve passed out, because she was lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

The Professor and her classmates were standing around her in a circle, clearly panicking. “She’s back!”, someone said hoarsely. There was an audible collective sigh of relief.

Firenze also looked at ease again. “Miss Brandon, can you hear me?”

Alice nodded. “Yes, Sir.” She realized how weak her voice sounded.

“You passed out, Alice. I think it would be best if someone accompanied you to the hospital wing. I’m sure it’s nothing serious, but just to be safe.”

Alice nodded again, matter-of-factly. She _did_ still feel quite faint. Her whole body ached, and she felt a strange tingling sensation in her arms and legs.

Most importantly though, she was utterly horrified at what she’d just seen. What had just happened? Had that been a dream? Was it a _vision_?

While Mike Newton walked her down the stairs, carefully holding her arm, Alice found herself wondering if maybe it _was_ a vision. She’d never had one so distinctive or precise before. Sure, for all her life, she’d always had those gut feelings, like something was going to happen and it had always come true, but this was something else entirely. These were whole scenarios that were about to happen.

 _Were_ they about to happen? Could she trust that this would be the future?

She still didn’t know what to think about either vision. The first one, Jasper and his friends under the Whomping Willow… turning into animals… maybe it was a metaphor for something? Maybe her subconscious was trying to tell her something?

But _what_ was it? Should she stay away from Jasper and Emmett because they were dangerous? Or unpredictable, like wild animals? She had absolutely no idea. And it wasn’t like she could ask Jasper. Alice imagined for a moment how that would go down: _Hey Jasper, I saw you turn into a giant golden lion in a vision I’ve just had while staring into a crystal ball, is that true_? Yeah, right, she thought bitterly. Then they would most certainly just send her to a mental asylum.

And the second vision… Alice felt herself regretting for a moment that the vision had broken off. Was she going to _kiss_ Jasper? Was it another metaphor? Did that mean that her mind subconsciously _was longing_ for her to kiss him? She felt her knees go weak only by thinking about it. The look on his face… she’d never seen him like that. He was usually so confident, so strong, sort of unapproachable. But in her dream (or vision or whatever the hell it had been) he’d looked so damn vulnerable. What had made him feel this way?

She couldn’t answer any of these questions and had no idea what to do about it. Maybe she should talk to Professor Firenze about the visions. Perhaps she should ask him if _he_ knew what they meant. After all, he was their Professor for Divination. If he didn’t know about it, who would?

She and Mike Newton had reached the hospital wing now. Alice was feeling better, but still didn’t quite trust her body. What if she had another one of these blackouts?

With a sigh, she entered the infirmary.

Also, it did kind of look like Gryffindor was going to lose their first match against Slytherin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally planned to only post Hogsmeade but it would have been a very short chapter, so you're welcome haha, I'm giving you the next one, too. Things are really going to start to kick off after this, I promise. Let me know what you think?


	14. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper talks to Benjamin after Quidditch practise. Alice tries to make sense of her visions.

_**11.** _

_**~*~** _

_Wednesday, October 12, 1977_

Jasper had been miserable for the last three days.

At least on Monday, he could still fool himself into thinking that it was because he’d had too much to drink the day before at the _Three Broomsticks_ with Rosalie and Emmett. But when the headache disappeared on Tuesday, he’d had to admit that perhaps a hangover wasn’t the main reason for why he felt so awful. And today hadn’t been any better.

He was sitting on his broom on the Quidditch pitch, high above the ground, thinking about those last couple of days. Jasper hadn’t spoken more than three words with Alice since their conversation at the party. On one side, he longed to ask her how her date with Benjamin had gone, but on the other hand, he knew he would probably regret it. If the date had gone well, it would be better for him not to know.

At the same time, Alice seemed to be avoiding him. Not, that he’d been particularly keen on speaking with her anyway, but the only time they’d seen each other since the weekend – last night in their common room – she’d simply said “Hi” to him, before disappearing into her room again. Maybe she was still trying to bring across her point: that she was never going to like Jasper and he should simply give up trying.

So naturally, he’d been pretty shattered about the whole thing. He didn’t really understand why it wasn’t _him_ avoiding _her_ – after all, he was clearly the hurt party here – but it suited him just fine at present. Jasper didn’t want to see her, didn’t want to talk to her.

He’d taken a pretty hard hit and had to lick his wounds for a while. How ironic.

The one thing that had made him question his decision to stay away from her, which he’d made on Sunday, was when he’d heard that Alice had passed out in Divination class. If the school gossip was right, she had been at the hospital wing on Monday. When he’d heard, he’d wanted to seek her out immediately and ask what was going on, if she was all right.

Sure, Jasper was still upset about their conversation, but it didn’t mean he could simply turn off caring about her. He wondered if Benjamin had been there, sitting next to her on her hospital bed and holding her hand. The thought made him sick.

Best not to think about it.

But it didn’t appear to have been anything serious. It was the only reason he hadn’t asked her about the incident. Alice had been released on the same day and Jasper hadn’t found out about the whole thing until the next morning at breakfast. News travelled fast at the school, but not _that_ fast.

Since he’d already heard her getting ready in their mutual bathroom in the morning, he hadn’t been _overly_ concerned with her health. He had still considered asking her about it in the evening, but then she’d just brushed right past him with only that little “Hi” and he’d decided to go back to leaving her alone. Clearly, it was what she wanted.

But right now, he had to focus on Quidditch. It wouldn’t be useful, spending all this time thinking about her. She didn’t want him. That was all he needed to know.

At the very least, this week’s Quidditch training was much better. Jasper would have probably thrown himself off his broom otherwise. Yes, he was being dramatic.

But thankfully, his team seemed eager to please him today, because they followed his orders and commands and advice to the letter. Thus, they had a more than decent session.

After the training was done, Jasper packed up his things as he usually did. This time, he was the only person left on the pitch. Emmett had already stalked after Rosalie and everyone else was headed for the showers, too. He enjoyed the short moment of silence after all the shouting and chatting of the last hours.

When he made his way toward the exit of the stadium, he saw the Hufflepuff Quidditch team entering the field, walking in his direction. Leading the way, Benjamin Amun walked ahead of his teammates. Jasper internally groaned. The other boy was the last person he wanted to see right now.

He had absolutely no desire to stop and chat to the other boy, but unfortunately, Amun was already grinning at him from a few metres away and walked straight in his direction. Already deciding to get rid of him as soon as possible, Jasper started the small talk that was bound to happen.

“Hey, Amun. You’ve got the pitch now?” He realized that his voice sounded strangely monotonous.

Benjamin didn’t notice. He was still grinning as if they were friends. Jasper resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

Yeah, perhaps he was being overly dramatic today, but his patience was running thin this week.

“We do, Whitlock. Madam Hooch said you’d be done by now and I’ve decided to put in an extra session.”

Jasper nodded, having expected that. The Hufflepuffs usually trained on Friday evenings.

“Let’s hope it’ll help you with Ravenclaw.”, he said politely. Truthfully, he had serious doubts about Hufflepuffs abilities to beat Ravenclaw on the third weekend of November. It was no secret that Hufflepuff was the underdog when it came to Quidditch.

Amun was laughing now. “When you say it like that, I could _almost_ believe you. But then again, you probably _do_ mean it. You’re rooting for us because you think Ravenclaw will be a tougher opponent in the end, don’t you?”

Jasper felt himself smiling for some reason, even though it probably looked quite forced. “You got me there. Sorry.”

Benjamin took no offense. “Ah, it’s actually kind of nice to be the underdog. Nobody is really counting on us to win the Cup this year. You’ll all be underestimating us; it will be fun.”

Jasper was laughing now. “Sure, if you say so.” The other boy was grinning at him again before he suddenly turned serious again.

“Hey, actually, I was wondering if you could tell me how Alice is doing?” His voice was friendly, but Jasper turned into a pillar of salt immediately.

Did Amun really have to rub it in? Was that necessary? Wasn’t it enough for him that he’d _won_ ; maybe not on the Quidditch pitch, but in this other, way more important thing?

He was acting completely mechanical now. Even his voice sounded tinny when he asked: “What do you mean?”

Amun shrugged, genuine worry in his eyes. “Well, I’ve heard she passed out in a class on Monday and wondered how she was feeling? You two live together right?” He pointed at Jasper’s badge with the letters H.B.

He nodded, still not being able to follow, though. “Why don’t you just _ask_ her? I assumed you two were pretty _close_.” It was painful to even force the words out.

Amun actually _blushed_. Jasper felt himself wishing he were struck by lightning right now.

“Well, we did go out on Sunday.” Amun glanced at him carefully, as if to check if he’d known about that.

Yeah, Jasper _knew_. He nodded; his jaw tightened.

“But it didn’t go well.” Benjamin continued. “I mean, during the date _I_ _felt_ like it was going well, but she seemed distracted the whole time. And after we’d been there for a while, she just kind of told me bluntly that it wasn’t going to happen.” He gave the Head Boy another look, almost curiously. He appeared to analyse his reaction.

Jasper thought his heart had stopped and then restarted. Could this really be the truth? Did Alice actually blow off Amun? Then again, why would he lie and admit something like that if it wasn’t true? There was nothing to gain from lying.

Staring at Benjamin, he dared not to hope, but at the same time, he wasn’t able to _stop_. Technically, he knew it didn’t change anything, she was still avoiding him and probably trying to convey that she would in fact never change her mind about him…

But at least she would be _free_. There would still be a chance, as slight as it might be.

Benjamin scratched his head before looking at him again. Actually, he was _staring_ directly into Jasper’s eyes, trying to find answers.

And then he said something to confuse Jasper even more.

“Is that about _you_ , Whitlock?”

He hadn’t been speechless many times in his life, but this was one of them.

His mind couldn’t even grasp the idea of what Amun had just asked, what he’d just implied. It seemed unfathomable. Jasper was gaping at him, his mouth open.

After what seemed like an eternity, he’d recovered enough to croak: “About _me_?”

Benjamin seemed to take his utter shock as an admission of guilt.

He sighed and smiled sadly. “Alice said there _wasn’t_ anybody else, but I didn’t really buy it. She acted so strangely when I mentioned your name… and I mean, sorry mate, but pretty much everybody at school knows you’re in love with her. So, I guess I kind of thought maybe you two were a thing or something. I don’t know.”

Jasper was still incapable of forming a proper sentence, although the reasonable voice in his head immediately chimed in, telling him there could be _logical_ explanations for why Alice had been acting strange when his name was mentioned.

It could be because she felt sorry for hurting him. When had she _not_ acted strangely after hearing his name, to be honest? She’d loathed him for most of their time together here at Hogwarts. Of course, she wouldn’t react well when he was mentioned.

 _Alice said there wasn’t anybody else, but I didn’t buy it_. Jasper replayed the sentence in his head over and over and over again.

Was there someone _else_? Apart from him and Amun? For one unreasonable, long moment, Jasper thought it might be Black. But then he remembered how Rosalie had said the boy was in love with Bella, so that was probably not the case.

Realizing that Amun was clearly waiting for an answer, he pulled himself together enough to reply: “To be honest… I _wish_ it was me.” He grinned pathetically. “But it’s not. I didn’t even know she turned you down.”

Amun shrugged. “I’ll get over it after some time. We didn’t really know each other all that well.” He stopped and seemed to hesitate for a second, scratching his chin. Then, he decided to add: “But I genuinely _do_ think she likes you, man. Maybe not really in the _past_ , but at present. I might be wrong, but if I were you, I wouldn’t throw in the towel just yet.”

With those words, he patted Jasper on the shoulder and walked past him, saying in a friendly voice: “I’ll see you on the pitch, Whitlock. May the better man win.”

Jasper walked back to the castle in a trance.

_Alice had told Amun it wasn’t going to work out between them._

_She’d blown him off._

_Benjamin thought Jasper was the reason for it._

The thoughts replayed in his head over and over again. It seemed impossible. Had he not thought just moments ago that these last few days had been dreadful? Was it possible that it had all turned on its head now? Was he finally blessed with good fortune? He wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

At the same time, Jasper didn’t have any idea what to do with this new information. Should he talk to Alice about it? Should he just ask her? Would she respond well to that?

Probably not.

Nothing had changed for _her_. It wasn’t as if he could be sure about the reasons why Alice had turned down Amun. Sure, Benjamin thought another guy was involved, but he could have easily convinced himself into believing that. Sometimes it was just easier to accept a refusal that way, instead of questioning whether his personality had anything do with it.

Perhaps Alice had simply not been into Amun. Maybe she thought he was dull. Jasper had no idea.

Still, Alice clearly didn’t want to talk to him. If she had rejected Amun for _him_ , surely she would’ve said something to him about it, right? And she’d had the chance to do so, but she’d just continued to avoid him for the past three days.

No, he decided. Whatever the reason was, for why things hadn’t worked out between the Head Girl and the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain, it had to be something else entirely. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with him. Especially not, considering how harshly she’d snapped at him during Slughorn’s party.

Perhaps she’d just decided she didn’t want a boyfriend right now, or some similar reason. Perhaps she wanted to focus on school instead.

That did sound more like Alice, he acknowledged. It had to be something like that.

But naturally, that didn’t stop the small shimmer of hope he felt in his chest.

_**12.** _

_**~*~** _

_Thursday, October 27, 1977_

The last two weeks had passed quicker than Alice could say “Knut”.

She had buried herself in schoolwork, spending every day at the library for hours on end. Partly, because she knew November would be tough, and she wanted to be prepared for all the exams and essays that would be due. But also, because she wanted to avoid being at the Astronomy Tower at all cost.

She wasn’t exactly avoiding _Jasper_ , not deliberately. They’d had a few overly polite conversations that usually went down like this:

_Jasper: “Good morning, Brandon. How are you today?”_

_Alice: “I’m well, thanks. You?”_

_Jasper: “Me, too. Heading for the library?”_

_Alice: “Yes, I need to work on my essay. What are you doing today?”_

_Jasper: “I’m going down to the Quidditch pitch for a training session later.”_

_Alice: “That’s nice.”_

_Jasper: “Yeah. Well, have a good day.”_

_Alice: “You, too.”_

All their conversations had been like this, apart from that one time two weeks ago, when he’d asked her how her date with Benjamin had gone. For the fraction of a second, her heart had dropped into her stomach. Wondering if he knew – if _somehow,_ he just _knew –_ Alice had exhaled sharply. There was no reason to believe he did, though; other than her, nobody had any idea why she’d turned down Benjamin. To be honest, Alice wasn’t even sure if Jasper was aware that she had.

But she just couldn’t admit it. It was impossible to tell him _he’d_ been the reason for it all.

So, she’d lied. She’d told him her date had gone well.

He’d looked at her in a very strange way as if he was questioning her honesty. So perhaps he _had_ known. After all, Benjamin must have told somebody about it.

But then, Jasper had just shrugged it off and told her he was glad, and their conversation had been over.

And then there was her vision.

Alice was almost certain by now that the first vision had been a metaphor for something. There was absolutely no way that Jasper, Emmett, and Ben could _actually_ turn into animals.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t considered it. She liked to be thorough. So she had read up on the topic at the library: Animagi. From what she’d gathered, turning into one was incredibly difficult, took a lot of time and effort and was also illegal for people under seventeen. The main reason she’d dismissed the idea was the time factor. It was absolutely impossible for the friends to have managed to get through all the steps in just a few months.

Additionally, there was just no way someone like Ben Cheney could pull off something like this.

But her second vision…

That one did seem more realistic, simply because it did not involve people turning into wild animals. Therefore, she figured it was probably _not_ a metaphor. But it seemed impossible nevertheless.

After all, Alice and Jasper had hardly spoken to each other during the past weeks. How could they possibly get to that point of strange familiarity, they seemed to have in that vision?

Sure, Jasper had snapped at her in that vision and told her to leave him alone, which didn’t seem like much of a stretch to where they were now. But at the same time, Alice had called him “Jazz” and had refused to leave him alone while he was in pain. It didn’t feel like anything she would ever do.

From her vision, she gathered that the scene would happen after a Quidditch match. The way Jasper had been talking about his team and Alice saying it was just a game, made that rather obvious. Paired with the observation that he’d been wet, sweaty, and dirty, it seemed like the only plausible option.

But the next Quidditch match was planned for next week already, on Saturday. It seemed absolutely unfathomable that she and Jasper could get from the weird place they were in now to that closeness they seemed to have in her vision, in only a _week_.

Let alone the _kiss_.

Although Alice hadn’t _seen_ them kiss, she knew it was what had happened after her vision broke off.

Or _would_ happen in the future.

 _God_ , she thought, _this was all so confusing._

The reason she was so sure that they would kiss, was because she’d felt that pull. If she was honest, she had to admit that it had felt impossible for them to be this close and then pull away without their lips touching first.

Alice had never experienced anything like it. The closest she’d come was with that boy last summer at the garden party. She’d wanted to feel his lips on hers so badly. And yet, even then it hadn’t felt as inevitable as her vision with Jasper.

Like it was _meant to be,_ somehow.

Shaking her head to get rid of the thought, she noticed how utterly ridiculous that sounded. In reality, she’d probably just passed out or fallen asleep and dreamt the whole thing. Perhaps her subconscious was simply trying to connect the dots about her confusing feelings for Jasper. Alice was attracted to him, so obviously there had to be a part of her that wanted to kiss him, even though she’d never specifically thought about it.

It wasn’t like it was set in stone. Most likely, it would never happen the way she’d imagined it.

Right now, Alice was sitting in her favourite spot on the windowsill, looking out over the Forbidden Forest, an open book in her lap. The trees looked stunning in the light of the setting sun, dark and mysterious. Full of secrets. She’d always felt drawn to it, had longed to wander through the forest at night, even though she could not describe where the sentiment came from.

At that moment, Jasper entered their common room from the corridor that led to their rooms, pulling her from her reverie. His hair was even more dishevelled than usual, almost looking as if he’d been asleep. But why would he sleep in the afternoon?

The Head Boy stopped in the doorframe when he saw her, looking almost caught.

“Alice!” His voice was definitely surprised. She raised her eyebrows.

Jasper grinned apologetically, picking up her on her suspicion immediately. “Sorry, I thought you were at the library.”

He was shoving something into his bag quickly as if to prevent her from seeing it. Alice’s eyes widened in recognition. It was the same pattern as the clothing in her first vision. What the hell _was_ that?

“What do you have there?” Her eyes narrowed while she was glaring at him.

Jasper replied way too quickly. “Nothing!” And then, realising how that made it sound even more as if he was trying to hide something, he added: “Eh, it’s just an old robe I wanted to give to Ben. He’s been growing out of some of this and his parents couldn’t send a new one because they’re away travelling until the end of the month.”

Alice still wasn’t buying it, but Jasper clearly wasn’t going to tell her. So she just nodded and turned back to the window, seemingly accepting his shitty excuse.

Secretly, she was starting to think today could be the day she’d seen in her vision. The sun was setting, Jasper was wearing the exact same clothes – which she only noticed at this moment, holding back a gasp – and he was bringing that piece of fabric (or whatever the hell it was) with him… exactly as she’d seen in the vision.

“Were you heading out?” It sounded sharp, harsh. Interrogating. Alice turned her head to look at him again.

“Yes, I was.” Jasper scratched his head, seemingly thinking about what to say next. He was clearly confused as to why she was talking to him this long after practically ignoring him for the last weeks. “The boys wanted to go outside to watch the sunset and maybe play around with the Quaffle, practising our throws and catches. I will probably be back quite late, but I’ll try to be quiet.”

Alice narrowed her eyes at his tone. He was trying too hard to sound innocent. As if he wasn’t up to anything. But it was obvious to her that he _was_.

“Please try to not get into trouble. You won’t break curfew, will you?” Since she couldn’t exactly tell him about her vision, she decided to act as if she was worried about him breaking the rules. Maybe that way, he would give something away.

For some reason, Jasper started laughing at her words. “No, I promise you, Brandon. Nobody will catch us sneaking around the castle at night.”

Alice immediately thought that the way he phrased it, felt rather strange. As if he didn’t believe that someone would _catch_ them. Or alternatively, that they wouldn’t be sneaking around the _castle_ , but rather _somewhere_ _else_. “I mean it, Jasper. We can’t afford to lose any more house points after that incident with Embry and Quil.”

The two Gryffindors had been caught hexing the benches at the Slytherin tables, making them so sticky that no one could get up again for an entire hour. It had lost Gryffindor almost fifty points combined.

Jasper was still chuckling. “Don’t worry. No house points will be lost tonight.” His tone sounded reassuring, but rushed – like he was in a hurry – and with a last smile, he disappeared through the portrait hole, not giving her the chance to question him any further.

Alice considered following him. She wasn’t sure how she could pull this off without being seen, though. In her vision, the boys had appeared out of thin air at the castle gate. Apparating was out of the question as it was impossible on school grounds. Over the last two weeks, one of the only plausible explanations she’d come up with was that they’d used a port key or some sort of spell. Either way, she probably wouldn’t be able to follow them through the castle.

When she looked back down on her pages she’d written about her book, she froze.

Up there, in the corner of the page, was today’s date.

 _October 27 Th_.

Suddenly, everything fell into place.

How strange Jasper and Seth had been acting when she’d asked them what was on the 27Th. The way Emmett had said at lunch that Jasper was adept in the art of Transfiguration. Their bloody nicknames, even. _Mane, Claw, Moony, Wormtail_.

 _Moony_?

She practically ran to the library. Madam Pince gave her a strange look but wasn’t overly surprised to see her. Alice was at the library pretty much every day, after all.

Alice found what she was looking for almost instantly. Two books. The first one was about Animagi. The second was about the moon cycle.

Over the next half hour, she’d figured it out.

They _were_ Animagi.

At least, Jasper, Emmett and Ben were. She wasn’t sure what Seth was, because she hadn’t seen him turn in her vision, but he had to be something else.

Another thing she found out after a bit of research, was that it was a full moon tonight. Therefore, _whatever_ Seth was, couldn’t be good. There was a number of dark creatures that came out on a full moon, and Alice was quite sure all of them were some sort of monsters.

While she wanted to see it with her own eyes, she also knew it was pointless. There was no way she could get close enough. By now, Ben – the rat – had jumped down on the special branch of the Whomping Willow – and the four boys had disappeared into the hole beneath it, leading to whatever was under there.

Alice knew instantly she would not be able to follow them. She, after all, couldn’t turn into a quick, small animal. The tree would kill her if she got too close.

Even the way Jasper had saved James all this time ago made sense to her now. He was either trying to protect him from the tree itself – which Alice had always believed – or perhaps from something darker, something more dangerous, lurking under its roots. A monster.

She shuddered.

Already knowing there was no way she could let this go without knowing the truth, she decided to confront Jasper. In fact, she would wait for him in their common room and ask him as soon as he got back. If she caught him in the act – of sneaking out – he would have to tell her. Especially when she confronted him with her newfound knowledge.

For some reason, she felt entirely sure that it was the truth. It was the last piece of a big puzzle, that had never made sense before. But now, she had almost put it together.

All those comments Emmett had made.

The way Jasper had looked reassuringly at Seth when he did as if trying to tell him that no one would find out ever about this.

How Jasper and his friends had gotten detention in the first place, trying to sneak back into the castle in the morning.

How miserable Seth looked all the time.

She had solved the puzzle, but there were one or two pieces missing. And she had to know the rest.

Alice returned to the common room in the Astronomy Tower, making herself comfortable on the couch. She was fairly certain that Jasper would not return tonight, but since she didn’t know for sure, she decided to stay out here. Maybe they were only dropping Seth of, so to speak, and would get back to the castle. It didn’t seem likely, though. Jasper wasn’t the type to leave a friend who needed him to his own devices.

Her sleep was usually light, so she would definitely wake up when he got back. Just to be sure, she cast a spell on the portrait to make a sound when it was opened.

Then, she prepared herself for a long night.

­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________________

Jasper was tired.

The night had been dragging on seemingly forever and it had been a particularly bad one. Seth had been in a terrible place.

It wasn’t anything new to the Marauders. This had happened a few times before. Even in their Animagi form, the boys weren’t completely safe from Seth and his sharp teeth and long claws.

Sure, it was much, much better than being a human in the close proximity of a werewolf, but they still had to be very careful.

They hadn’t been in the beginning, and so the first time the Marauders had accompanied Seth to the Shrieking Shack, Jasper had been bitten. For one terrifying month, they had been worried sick about the prospect that he might be a werewolf now, too. Apparently though, the poison didn’t work when he wasn’t in his human form.

Seth had almost been more relieved than Jasper when the next full moon came because he had been wrecked with guilt the entire time. Now they could joke about it.

Since they had accidentally – and stupidly – found out that Seth’s bites couldn’t hurt them in their animal form, they had been bitten many times. No one more than Jasper though, who was usually the first to jump into action whenever Seth – the werewolf – got uneasy.

It didn’t happen a lot, thankfully. Most full moons, Seth was very calm with them and Jasper and Emmett had worked out the theory that this was his normal state in the presence of animals or Animagi. The other, rare times when he was aggressive, happened only when the stars and planets were in weird constellations.

The scars Jasper had acquired from the bites did not only cover his animal form, but they also carried onto his human body. It had been quite hard to explain them to Maria. She had noticed, even though the scars were only faint and not overly noticeable in normal light. He’d told her he’d been attacked by a dog when he was little and she seemed to have believed it.

Tonight had been one of those rare, aggressive nights, though. Seth had been very uneasy and had bitten both him and Emmett twice.

Jasper and Emmett always made sure to keep Ben out of the room when Seth was attacking them. While the two of them could easily stand their ground against a full-grown werewolf, Ben probably wouldn’t survive it. He was very small after all, and Jasper was worried about the damage that one bite, one strike with Seth’s paw could do to him. The Head Boy and Emmett had never been willing to take that risk.

He had said goodbye to his friends a few minutes ago, dropping them off at their common room. Still under his Invisibility Cloak, Jasper was trying to be more careful this time. Last month they had been careless, had taken it off too soon and then proceeded to run straight into Professor McGonagall. This could not happen again. After all, he’d promised Alice that he would not get caught sneaking around.

Jasper was still wondering what that had been about. Clearly, she’d been very suspicious when he’d left last night. For one small moment, he’d thought she was suspecting something, but he’d shaken off the idea. There was no way.

Standing in front of the portrait of the silver mermaid now, he finally dared to take off the Invisibility Cloak. Nobody would see him here.

The silver mermaid looked up, seemingly surprised to see him appear out of nowhere, but then blinked a couple of times and asked for the password. He gave it, and the portrait swung open.

To his utter dismay, a loud, shrill sound resonated as soon as it did, and he jumped back in reflex. What the hell was _that_?

He’d drawn his wand before he knew it and stared into the common room, looking subconsciously for a threat. Or something else that could have caused the alarming sound. The portrait swung closed behind him, making him startle.

Instead of an attacker, he found himself faced with Alice.

The dark-haired witch was sitting on the couch next to the fireplace, almost hidden from his view, which was probably why he hadn’t noticed her at first. Her hair was messy, standing off in every direction. Another thing he instantly noticed was that she was wearing her pyjamas. _Did she sleep here_? She certainly looked tired.

Her eyes were fixed on him and her face portrayed an indecipherable expression.

Jasper stood positively frozen in place next to the portrait hole, staring at her. Alice glared back at him for a second, before muttering something that made the sound stop immediately. The Head Boy realised that both of them were still holding their wands, so he lowered his. There was no threat here, after all. Except perhaps for her unreadable expression.

“Where the _hell_ have you been?” Her voice was icy, interrogating, similar to how it had sounded last night when he’d left.

Jasper flinched. How was he going to explain _this_? Clearly, she seemed to be aware that he hadn’t slept in here at all tonight. He was racking his brain for something to say – anything – and ruffled through his messy hair; only to be horror-stricken when dust and a leaf from the Whomping Willow fell out of it.

_God, this would be a nightmare to explain._

Alice noticed it, too, and narrowed her eyes.

He was chuckling nervously, going with the first thing that came to his mind. “Eh… god, this is really embarrassing, Brandon. I was with Maria tonight.”

Mentally, he kicked himself in the balls the second he’d said it. _Damn it_. Why on earth would he say _that_?

From the looks of it, it didn’t matter anyway. Alice didn’t seem to believe a word he was saying.

“ _Liar_.”

She only said that one word and Jasper’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“ _What_?” He realized that his mouth was hanging open now. He was nonplussed. She’d never spoken to him with such bluntness.

“I don’t believe you,” Alice stated deadly serious, with a sharp edge to her tone. “I know where you… and your _friends_ have been. You were at the Whomping Willow.”

Jasper gasped, fully gaping at her at his point. He was completely at a loss for words.

Alice _knew_.

 _How the fuck did she know? Did she follow him?_ He shuddered, terror-stricken at the sheer thought of her sneaking after them. At the thought of her getting anywhere near Seth.

Jasper felt like he would _die_ if that was what had happened, if she had ever been in danger like that.

“Wh-… how… Wha-…” He was incapable of stringing together a coherent sentence. Then, inhaling deeply, he pulled himself together. Him stammering around would not exactly prove his innocence here. He straightened up his back, rising to his full height. Perhaps trying to intimidate her enough to stop talking.

Then he said, hopefully cool and collected: “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, Brandon. Did you fall _asleep_ here?”

Unfortunately, Alice wasn’t one to be easily intimidated. She rose from her position on the couch and walked toward him, full of confidence. Jasper couldn’t help but be a little impressed. For such a tiny thing he’d always thought she was quite brave, never one to cower before a potential threat.

Leaving a safe distance between them, Alice came to a halt before delivering the next blow. “I’ve been waiting for you. I thought if I confronted you when I caught you in the act – so to speak – you would have to admit the truth.”

Jasper was still staring at her incredulously. “And what _truth_ exactly, is that? What do you think I _did_?” His voice sounded strangely hollow. There was no way. No way that she knew. It was impossible.

But then she said: “I know you’re an Animagi” and Jasper felt the ground spinning under his feet.

She _did_ know.

Alice knew the actual truth.

He went back to his stammering, flustered performance from just a few moments ago. “What the _hell_ … _How_ do you… I mean, how could you _possibly_ …” He broke off, angry with himself.

When Jasper looked back at her, he saw that her expression was smug, like she was pleased that she’d figured it out. At that moment, he realised he’d _lost_. There was no chance to talk her out of it. She knew she was right. It was pointless to deny it.

Jasper deflated immediately.

Alice, for some reason, started grinning. Her next words were muttered to herself. “I knew it.”

“How the _fuck_ do you know about this, Alice?” Jasper was almost yelling now, feeling angry at her all of a sudden. How dare she snoop around in other people’s businesses? Especially in dangerous kinds like his.

At the same time, Jasper couldn’t believe she’d figured it out that easily. They had been so careful. Or at least so he’d thought.

“ _Did you follow us_?”, he added in the same tone and he saw her flinch, immediately feeling sorry for being so rude to her. For a second, he considered apologizing, but he was still reeling and too upset at her, so he dismissed the thought.

“No.” Alice’s voice was quiet, and she was staring up at him, looking almost… _afraid_ now.

Too late, Jasper realized that she was probably terrified of him. Alice knew he was an Animagi, so the chances were good that she probably also knew what kind of animal he was. The thought crossed his mind that she might be afraid he would turn and _actually_ attack her.

He raised his hands, pointing his palms outwardly. “I’m not going to _hurt_ _you_ , Alice.”

Jasper made sure to make it sound as casual as possible as if this was a completely normal thing to say for a seventeen-year-old student.

Alice seemed irritated now, glaring at him once more.

“I _know that_ , idiot,” she snapped at him in annoyance, and Jasper felt himself relax a little.

Clearly, she wasn’t _that_ afraid of him if she could still growl at him like that.

“I’m not scared of _you_ ,” she added, her voice firm.

When Jasper met her eyes, he could tell that she was telling the truth.

“I just want to know the whole story. I know what you are, and Emmett and Ben. But what is _Seth_? It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Jasper exhaled sharply again, shocked once more. She really did know everything. Well, obviously not _everything_ , but pretty much most of it. There was no way he would get out of this. Maybe she would threaten to tell the whole school if he didn’t tell her the truth now. Perhaps she would tell the teachers or the parents.

The blond boy decided to deflect, running his fingers through his hair again. “Answer my question, Alice. How do you know about this?”

Alice looked away, almost ashamed now. “I can’t tell you.”

The Head Boy had to laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation. His whole body had been frozen with shock and he needed to ease the tension. Although his laughter did sound rather dry. “You’ve just figured out the biggest secret of my entire life, but you can’t tell me _how_ you know? Come on. That just doesn’t make sense.”

Alice actually managed a faint smile. Still not looking at him while considering her answer, she seemed to make up her mind then, all of a sudden. Her eyes shot back to his face and drilled into his. “I will tell you if you tell me the whole story. I promise.”

Jasper was getting rather curious now. It almost sounded as if her secret was equal to his. He wondered what the hell she could possibly be hiding that would compare to him being able to turn into a giant animal. But he decided it was pointless to lock the stable door after the horse had bolted. She already knew. And right now, Alice was probably expecting the worst. It was better to clear this up before she decided to run away screaming, telling the whole world about this.

Jasper surrendered. “Alright. I’ll tell you. But, and I mean this _literally_ , you cannot tell a single soul about this.” His voice was deadly serious now, trying to convey the importance of his words. “If you do, we’re going to be absolutely _fucked_.”

Alice was grinning again, looking very smug. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on it. People would definitely send me to a mental asylum anyway, rather than believing _that_ story.”

Not able to hide how shocked he was by how lightly she seemed to take it, Jasper couldn’t help but stare at her again. Alice didn’t appear to be scared, just curious.

Had she known about this for a while or did she only just find out?

Resigning, he sighed. “Well, where do I begin?”

__________________________

They had been sitting together for over two hours. Jasper had explained practically everything.

That Seth was a werewolf (Alice had gasped at that) and how Dumbledore knew about it and had set up the tunnel under the Whomping Willow and the Shrieking Shack for him to still have a chance to go to Hogwarts and to get an education.

That Seth hadn’t told even _them_ about it, but how they’d figured it out during their second year (Alice had been impressed at that).

How they had decided to become Animagi.

How they had spent the next three years trying to learn how to do it.

How, ever since, they had spent every full moon keeping Seth company.

Basically, he had _really_ told her everything.

At some point during his narration, they had moved from their standing position onto the couch, sitting next to each other. For a moment, Jasper had been distracted by _how_ close she was sitting across from him, facing him. He’d wondered if they’d ever been so close before, but couldn’t think of any occasion.

Then, he had pushed the thought to the back of his mind forcefully. There were more important things now.

Right now, he was telling her about the process of becoming Animagi, which was long, time-consuming and incredibly difficult. She was hanging on his lips, taking in every word, and seemed completely engaged in their conversation. Jasper had never seen her like this.

“… and then, of course, there was the Animagus Potion that we had to brew,” he finished his retelling of the process.

Alice’s eyes widened, clearly remembering something. “Yes, I was wondering about that!”, she exclaimed. “How did you manage to pull _that_ off? Professor Slughorn said in class it was one of the most difficult potions that existed! And you must’ve been what, fifteen at the time? _How_ did you do it?”

Jasper couldn’t help but feel a little proud. He was really trying to be modest, but it was hard when Alice was so enthusiastic and seemed so utterly stunned by his magical abilities. It would have been easy enough to fall back into old habits and start boasting about how it hadn’t even been that hard for him, but he bit back any comments like that.

Instead, he said, shrugging nonchalantly, but with a hint of pride: “It wasn’t that bad, actually. I just read a _ton_ of books and asked many – in hindsight probably really suspicious – questions in class. It didn’t take that long to figure out how to do it.”

Alice shook her head, still impressed. She’d always envied him for his outstanding grades and had secretly thought he must be cheating or maybe charming the pants off his teachers to achieve them.

But now, she had to finally admit that was simply not the case. He was just pretty damn smart and clearly possessed superior magical skills than his peers. While Alice had to work hard for her grades, Jasper just seemed to have been born with these abilities. It did actually come easy to him. And obviously, he had also put a lot of effort into their project to help Seth.

“Wow,” she said, and not for the first time during his story.

Jasper grinned back at her, a little smugly. Normally, this would have bothered her, but now she felt like he deserved some credit for this. After all, it was not every day that one’s seventeen-year-old roommate explained how he became an Animagi.

Talking about himself for so long, Jasper had almost forgotten about _her_ secret. Almost. He decided now would be a great time to ask about it, while she was still distracted trying to come to terms with how he and his friends had managed to do all of this.

“It’s your turn now, I think. I’ve been talking about myself pretty much for hours at this point.” His voice was friendly but careful. Jasper hoped she would feel more comfortable opening up about herself now that he’d practically told her his entire life story.

Still, Alice froze for a moment before relaxing again, rolling her shoulders to release the tension. They had been sitting here for quite some time.

Surprisingly, she felt at ease with him this time. Not awkward at all, like all these other conversations they’d had in the past. Back then, she’d either tried too hard to fight back her growing fondness for him, or had been ready to jump down his throat for something.

No, Alice thought, this was different. This version of him was absolutely breath-taking. Jasper looked outrageously handsome despite the dark shadows under his eyes, giving away just how tired he probably was. He had taken off his cloak and was just wearing trousers and a simple shirt now. His honey-golden hair was unruly as always, and yet looked so silky and soft. Alice caught herself remembering more than once, how she’d thought about running her fingers through it at Slughorn’s party.

Still, he’d asked her a question and their conversation wasn’t over yet, so she brushed the thought aside.

Jasper was giving her a look full of curiosity, clearly wondering what her secret could be.

The Head Girl sighed, giving in. After he’d told her his whole story, about Seth and the Marauders, she had no valid reason to hold back her own. Even though she had no idea how he was going to react.

“Did you hear about how I passed out in Divination the other day?” Her voice was almost trembling, because suddenly, she was afraid.

What if he was going to think she was insane? It definitely wasn’t a _normal_ thing, not even for witches and wizards, to be able to see the future.

Jasper nodded; his expression worried now, although it wasn’t clear to her if he was reacting to the incident she referring to, or her sudden unease. Alice’s heart fluttered anyway. _He cared about her_.

“Yeah, I heard. I have been meaning to ask you about that. Are you alright?”

It seemed a bit silly inquiring about that incident two weeks later, but Alice still smiled at him softly. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, searching her mind for the right words.

Jasper was distracted for a moment, too busy staring at her lips. He wasn’t able to decide whether she looked adorable or _hot_ right now. For the fraction of a second, he caught himself wishing it would be _him_ , biting her lip like this, pulling it between his teeth. Thinking about the _sound_ she would make, was so distracting that he nearly missed her next words.

“I passed out that day, because I had… well, I guess what you could call it is a… _vision_.” Alice said the last part of the sentence almost too quickly to understand and avoided his gaze.

Jasper was pulled from his daydream.

 _What_?

“Eh, what did you just say?” His voice was perplexed. Alice was biting her lip, _again_. Only this time, he was too focused on her words to be overly distracted by it. She seemed high-strung all of a sudden.

“I’ve always had these… well, gut feelings – so to speak.” Once she’d started to speak her words came out at such a speed that Jasper had difficulties keeping up. “You know, I could feel when it was going to rain, when the sun would shine, who would get married, what gender babies were going to be, what the numbers of the lottery on next Sunday would be. All these kinds of things. It was always a gut feeling. When a Professor intended to quiz us, when Rosalie would get a letter from her parents… stuff like that. It was strange, but whenever I had a feeling like that, it always came true. Without exception. But it was always just a feeling, you know, like this certainty that you just have about some things?” She looked at him expectantly and Jasper nodded.

Sure, knew what it felt like to be certain about some things. While he wasn’t sure if it was the same thing Alice was describing, he also knew that he wouldn’t say anything to make her stop talking. It was his turn to just listen and encourage her.

The Head Girl continued: “And then, on that day in Divination, it was something else entirely. We were talking about crystal balls in class and Professor Firenze made me look into one…” She broke off, glaring at his sudden grinning facial expression.

Jasper was trying hard to bite back his laughter.

 _Crystal Balls? Really_?

“I _know,_ this sounds ridiculous, okay?” Her voice was a little annoyed, but on some level, she could understand where he was coming from. Alice knew how weird all of this must sound to him.

Raising his hands in innocence, Jasper was still grinning. “I _didn’t_ say anything!”

She felt the corners of her mouth twitch, too. “In any case, while I was staring at that thing, something hit me… not literally, but more like a… feeling? Like I was somewhere else entirely, all of a sudden. I was at the castle gate. I saw you and your friends appear out of nowhere.”

She stopped, because she’d only just now remembered something. “ _How_ did you do that, by the way?”

Jasper didn’t want to interrupt her explanation, but he still sighed and got up to retrieve his bag. He’d dropped it earlier on the floor in shock, when he’d seen her sitting there, waiting for him. Pulling out the Invisibility Cloak, Jasper simply put it over his head instead of explaining it.

Alice let out a gasp of shock when he disappeared right in front of her eyes. But then, she recovered quickly, starting to laugh.

“Of course.”, she murmured to herself, while Jasper walked back to the couch and sat down next to her again, not ready for this conversation – or their closeness – to be over.

“Go on, please.”

Alice nodded, remembering where she left off. “So anyway, I saw you and your friends appear out of thin air. You couldn’t see me, so I somehow knew I wasn’t _really_ there. You know, I was sort of just there to watch. And I followed you all the way down to the Whomping Willow. Ben turned first and I thought he’d vanished, but when I walked closer, I realised he’d turned into a rat. Then Emmett turned and you. You were playing around for a bit. And then, I saw all of you disappear into a hole beneath the tree and the vision ended. I woke up in the classroom again.”

When she looked back at him, Jasper was staring at her, any previous doubts he might have had in his mind, erased. The truth was, that was exactly what had happened. She had _seen_ it, without actually being there.

Alice was giving him a strange look. “Are you scared of _me_ now?” Her voice was unsure.

Jasper shook his head, still trying to grasp the things she’d told him. “I’m just… surprised. I have never really believed in Divination, you know. I thought it was complete bollocks, I guess.” He stopped, looking at her with worry, wondering if he’d offended her. After all, she had always liked the subject. But Alice was still wearing a neutral and uncertain expression on her face, so he continued: “But it seems as if you can _actually_ see the future, because that’s pretty much exactly what went down.”

Visibly relaxing, she gave him a beaming smile. “You know, most of it actually _is_ bollocks. I don’t think my vision came from that bloody crystal ball. It was happening more… in front of my eyes, if that makes sense? But even Professor Firenze didn’t seem to believe we would see a damn thing in a crystal ball.”

Jasper laughed at her vehement response. “Perhaps you’re just gifted,” he suggested. “Maybe some people actually _can_ see the future, without having to learn or study it.”

That concept sounded nice in her ears and she smiled brightly at him, still relieved that Jasper didn’t seem to think she was insane.

 _God, she was beautiful_ , he thought, distracted by her smile. And now, Jasper felt like he finally knew her. They had disclosed their greatest, darkest secrets to one another, things that not even most of their friends knew about them. In a way, it felt quite intimate, knowing her that well.

Alice seemed to have the same thought. “I’ve not told anyone about that. I mean, Rosalie and Bella know about my gut feelings, but I think they’ve always quickly dismissed it as luck. And I haven’t told them about these real visions.”

The Head Boy suddenly realised something: “Visions, as in _plural_? Did you see anything else apart from that one about me and my friends? I thought you said you’d never had one of those before.”

Alice was blushing now.

Under no circumstances could she tell him about the other vision she’d had.

Sure, it felt like their friendship had stepped literal miles forward today, but she wasn’t ready to tell him _that_. It was confusing enough, sitting here so close to him, bearing her soul, and watching him do the same. It felt so personal.

There was a part of her that wanted to reach out her hand and touch him. Perhaps push that strand of honey-blond hair out of Jasper’s face.

But at the same time, she was incredibly scared all of a sudden. Alice had never been in love. She didn’t know what it felt like. Was _this_ what it felt like? Or was this pull, this attraction just physical?

While she was thinking about it, she became precarious. Pulling back from him, Alice stood up. She realized that her legs had fallen asleep over the last couple of hours. God, how long had they been talking to each other? It had to be the longest conversation they’d ever had.

“No, it was the only vision I’ve had.” Her voice was quiet again, shaky. She felt vulnerable suddenly, after having disclosed her biggest secret to him.

Jasper noticed the change in her demeanour immediately, realising their moment was over. He got up to his feet, too, but kept a careful distance. Glancing down on his watch, he realised they had to be at breakfast in about half an hour.

Apparently, the Head Girl had noticed it, too. “We should get ready,” she said, avoiding looking at him.

Jasper sighed mentally. He was desperately hoping they wouldn’t go back to practically not talking for weeks on end, now that this moment was over. It always seemed to be like this with her. Whenever he got too close, she pushed him away, bringing some distance between them. He recognized now that it was a pattern.

“You’re right.” Jasper was admitting defeat. For today at least. It would have to be enough.

Alice nodded at him and brushed past him in the direction of the bathroom, leaving him standing. When she’d almost reached the door, already holding the doorknob in her hand, she suddenly turned around.

“And… Jazz?”

Jasper spun around immediately, looking at her _. Had she just called him by his nickname_? All he could do was stare at her with wide eyes.

Alice was biting her bottom lip unsurely again, driving him _absolutely_ crazy without even noticing it.

“Yeah?” He heard his voice say, but wasn’t sure how he’d managed to say it.

“It was really nice talking to you. Thanks for telling me.” Her smile was the loveliest thing he’d ever seen and thankfully, before he could make up his mind to go over there and just _kiss_ her, Alice turned around, walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Jasper stood in the common room motionlessly, grinning like a complete idiot for ten solid minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another long chapter, yay! Thank you, everybody, for the lovely reviews! Let me know what you think about this one, too? :)


	15. The first game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first game of the Quidditch season takes place. Alice has a bad feeling about it. Rosalie and Jasper deal with the aftermath of the game.

_**12.** _

_**~*~** _

_Sunday, November 6, 1977_

The tables had finally turned.

Or at least, that was what it felt like to him. Jasper had spent most of his time at Hogwarts trying to get Alice Brandon to like him. It had only taken more than six years and a lot of hard work and effort, but _finally,_ he felt like he had achieved that.

Of course, selfish bastard that he was, it _still_ wasn’t enough for him. Now that they were friends, he wanted more.

Jasper wanted everything.

It was almost harder than before to be in her presence. At least, back when Alice had loathed him, it hadn’t been that hard to control himself. In the past, she would have murdered him in an instant, had he even dared to try to reach out and touch her. More than anything he wanted to stroke her cheek or slide his fingers down her arm.

But now it was even worse. He was constantly close to her and it was torture of the sweetest kind.

Ever since that early morning after the last full moon, when Jasper had told her everything and Alice had reciprocated with her own secret, they were hanging out a lot. Of course, both of them still had their own friends, but since Rosalie and Emmett also spend a lot of time together, the groups were often united. They sat together during mealtimes, met for study sessions at the library, and even walked to class together. Sometimes, Alice and Bella even showed up at the Quidditch pitch, watching them train.

Additionally, Jasper and Alice had to give their tutoring lessons on Saturdays, which meant they spent even more time together. She had graciously forgiven him for being absent that one time when he’d been too upset to do it after Slughorn’s party. Yesterday afternoon had been their last session and Alice had joked afterwards, while they were standing in front of the library, that he was now free.

The Head Boy had no desire to be free. He would have happily continued to do the tutoring lessons throughout the entirety of the school year. All just to spend time with her.

It hadn’t even bothered Jasper that she was tutoring Jacob, with whom he now knew she had a past. On the contrary, it had even encouraged him to see how indifferent she seemed towards him as if that whole thing had never happened in the first place. Clearly, Alice hadn’t been _that_ into him.

Still, Jasper had to stop himself from contemplating the whole thing, because the thought of Alice in any kind of _physical_ _relationship_ was too much to handle.

Not because he was jealous, but because he wanted her so badly.

It was almost painful at times. Sometimes _literally_ painful, too.

What wasn’t helping in the matter at all, was that Alice felt so comfortable around him now. The other day she’d even _embraced_ him when he’d told her he had to go see Seth. The last week had been a struggle for the other boy.

Alice had whispered against his chest (because she was so tiny, she didn’t even reach up to his shoulder) that he was such a good friend and that Seth was lucky to have him. Jasper was convinced he deserved a fucking medal for not lifting her off her feet and kissing her senseless at that moment.

On top of that, Alice had also started to walk around their common room in the shortest of clothes before she went to bed. Sometimes it was a nightdress, sometimes those adorable – and _sexy_ – black shorts that barely covered her ass. It was getting out of hand. Jasper wasn’t sure if she realized how much she was torturing him. Maybe she was even doing it _on purpose_. He tried his best not to leer at her, but didn’t always succeed.

But it didn’t seem to bother her anymore. At least she wasn’t snapping at him constantly like she had used to, whenever he’d looked at her the wrong way in the past. He didn’t know what it meant, but then again, Jasper had given up a while ago trying to wholly understand her. She was an enigma to him, and he felt as if he would never be able to fully see through her.

At the same time, he didn’t care. He didn’t have to know every single thing about her. If Alice would let him in just a little, it would already be more than he could’ve ever dreamed of.

Today was the day of the first Quidditch match in the new season. The first game, traditionally Slytherin versus Gryffindor, would take place in half an hour. Jasper was currently walking down to the Quidditch pitch with all of his team members and some of their friends, including Alice and Bella. He was walking ahead, still lost in thought while remembering the morning after the last full moon.

All of Hogwarts had been in a state of shock when Jasper and Alice had shown up at the Great Hall together. It was something that had never happened before. Naturally, people had started talking about them straight away.

Alice had just rolled her eyes and ignored the gossip, but Jasper had secretly enjoyed it. It was exhilarating that everyone was speculating immediately whether they were dating, and he had a feeling it might stop potential rivals from even daring to think about asking her out. Therefore, this whole situation might actually work in his favour. And Jasper was playing those cards expertly, too, flirting _very_ openly with her in front of everybody.

To his utmost surprise, Alice played along.

From then on, they started to mercilessly tease each other about old stories that had transpired years ago or made fun of the other person playfully. It was something that would’ve been unthinkable only a few weeks ago. Back then, had he said any of these things to her, she would’ve hexed him straight into the hospital wing before he even had the time to get his wand out of his pocket.

Jasper looked up, pulled out of his thoughts when someone caught up with him.

Alice had been walking next to Bella for most of their way to the Quidditch pitch, not giving him the chance to talk to her. But now, she was walking right next to him.

The entire time, Jasper had secretly hoped that she would.

“Hi.” Her tone was soft, and she gave him a shy smile. Jasper was certain he would never get used to her smiling at him like that.

“Hey, you.” His reply sounded even more affectionate. Sometimes he was worried it would scare her off how openly in love with her he was. But Alice either didn’t seem to notice or was at least ignoring it skilfully.

Gracefully, she kicked a stone out of the way and turned back to him, meeting his eyes. “I wanted to wish you good luck.”

But there was something else in her voice, something he couldn’t quite interpret.

 _What was it_?

Jasper raised his eyebrows. “Any gut feelings I need to know about?” He’d meant it as a joke and was sure none of their friends had heard, but Alice’s eyes widened, and suddenly she was looking around nervously. Probably checking if one of the others had heard his comment.

A short moment later, she had her emotions reined in again. “No. At least not… well… _supernatural_ ones. I think you’re going to play really well, though.” The word “supernatural” came out as nothing more than a whisper and Jasper felt the corners of his mouth twitching.

“Am I?” In reality, he felt quite nervous. After all, it _was_ the most important game of the season; at least for him and probably every other member of the houses Gryffindor and Slytherin. Under no circumstances could he lose today.

She grimaced, pretending to be annoyed by that comment as if he was fishing for compliments. “Of course, you are. You’re _Whitlock_ after all. As I’m very sure you’re aware of, everybody at this school worships you and your skills at Quidditch.”

He tilted his head to the side. “ _Everyone_?”

To his delight, Alice blushed. But she recovered quickly. “Yeah, I mean, maybe apart from the Slytherins. They’re probably shivering in fear right now. But other than that, pretty much everybody, yeah.”

Jasper gave her another soft smile. “I’m glad you’re including _yourself_ in this scenario. Will you be rooting for me, too, today?”

It was obvious that Alice had completely forgotten about herself because her face turned even redder. Jasper moved closer, absolutely mesmerized.

Sticking out her tongue, she replied: “Of course I will. I want to win the bloody House Cup after all.”

He was laughing at that. “Oh, so it’s the House Cup you care about, rather than the Quidditch Cup or my personal success? How very selfish of you, Miss Brandon.”

Alice joined in his laughter, not bothered by his teasing.

After a short moment, she turned serious again, glancing at him a little nervously. “Don’t pressure yourself too much, okay? No matter how this goes today, you’re still a great Quidditch player.”

And then Jasper _knew_.

He knew that Alice did indeed have one of her “gut feelings.” And her premonition abilities told her that Gryffindor was going to lose today.

Nevertheless, for the next couple of hours, Jasper was still trying to prove her wrong.

But while he was sitting on his broom a few dozen feet up in the air, watching out of the corners of his eyes what was happening in the match, he had to come to terms with the truth that she most likely _wasn’t_. They were most likely going to lose this game.

It all started with an injury. Leah Clearwater was blocked by Victoria, the other team’s Chaser and practically knocked out cold. Falling off her broom, unconscious after the punch in the stomach the other girl had thrown, Leah would’ve hit the ground, had Emmett not managed to catch her just in time. She was immediately taken to the hospital wing by Professor Cullen, who had been a doctor in a Muggle hospital before coming to teach at Hogwarts.

Jasper, absolutely furious, had engaged in a lengthy, heated discussion with Madam Hooch and Slytherin’s Captain Afton Waters. The situation had nearly ended in a fist fight high above the ground. Normally, Jasper was excellent at deescalating a dispute, but this time he wasn’t _trying_ to.

In the end, Rosalie had been the one telling him to get the fuck over himself and stop this discussion, before it could lead to the match being abandoned.

But without Leah, it became painfully obvious to the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team that they would not win today. Mostly, because of what he had dreaded straight away after picking Marcus in the try-outs: the other boy played too selfishly. Jasper was trying his best to fly into a good position every time Marcus had the ball, but the other boy very rarely passed to him. Instead, he always went for the goalposts on his own, and, most of the time, was either blocked or missed his attempt.

Back when Leah had still been in the game, she and Jasper had worked well together. They had scored a good amount of points, which had even put them in the lead during the first few minutes of the game.

But even _Jasper_ couldn’t get past the blockade of the Slytherin team members on his own without her. Her absence had left a void that no one could fill.

Jasper wasn’t the only one getting frustrated with the match, though. The audience was, too. Mostly because it wasn’t very entertaining. Slytherin played a defensive strategy most of the time only to then strike occasionally from the back of the field. Their attacks almost always ended in them scoring.

Not at all like Jasper had expected them to play.

Needless to say, Slytherin was up by _fifty_ points after only an hour of the game.

At that point, Jasper’s only hope was that they could catch the Golden Snitch before the other team did. But for some reason – whether it was due to Alice’s gut feeling or his own – he didn’t believe it was going to happen.

The weather had turned and was dreadful now, with strong winds threatening to throw them off their brooms and heavy rain that made it impossible for them to see anything outside a two-metre range of themselves.

Rosalie had never played in these conditions before and she was obviously struggling.

Slytherin’s Seeker Chelsea, on the other hand, had been on the team for three years. She was far more experienced than Rose, and her broom seemed better suited for this type of weather. At the very least, she wasn’t thrown around by the storm as much as Rosalie was.

Jasper felt his frustration growing by the second. He’d never had to fight the odds before, and it wasn’t exactly a pleasant feeling. Inwardly, he wished Alice hadn’t said anything about the game at all.

Perhaps then, he could still believe in their chances and maybe even turn this game around.

However, Chelsea _did_ catch the Golden Snitch only a few minutes later, winning the game for Slytherin with a lead of two-hundred-twenty points. There was a collective groan coming from Gryffindor’s audience, when she held it in her wet hand, a smug expression on her face.

Disappointed, Jasper dropped the Quaffle he’d been holding, already half-way to Slytherin’s goalposts. It took every ounce of self-control he had in his body, not to throw it at Waters’ face instead.

It was a debacle, a disaster, an embarrassment.

Jasper was so infuriated that he started yelling at Marcus in the changing room. Deep down, he knew they wouldn’t have won even if the other boy had passed the ball more often, but he needed to let off some steam. Marcus, of course, didn’t react well to his accusations and the two boys nearly began to fight. Edward and Emmett stepped in just in time, pulling them apart.

Still, it was obvious that everyone on the team was equally shattered.

It was worse for some. When Jasper walked out of the boys’ changing room, Rosalie sat motionlessly outside in the hallway. Jasper knew instantly that she was blaming herself.

Walking toward her, he realised that she wasn’t motionless after all. Her entire body was trembling, and it took him a second to notice that she was _crying_.

Jasper had never seen Rosalie Hale cry before.

Disregarding the fact that he was feeling pretty fucking wretched himself, he sat down next to her and placed his hand very carefully on her shoulder. He was prepared to pull back immediately and already half-expected her to snap at him.

Rosalie didn’t seem to mind, though, glancing up at him instead. It was impossible not to notice how beautiful she was, although Jasper had never been interested in her in a romantic way. She just _was_. There was no denying it.

“It’s fine, Rose.” His voice did not sound convincing at all. It was the first time he’d called her by her nickname.

“Don’t give me that shit!” She snarled it at him, and he wisely pulled his hand back then, before she could get the idea to hex him. “It’s _not_ and you fucking know it.”

There it was. He’d known this was going to happen the moment he’d decided to speak to her. “It wasn’t your fault. We were all pretty shitty today and the weather was awful.”

“ _They_ didn’t seem to mind.” Her tone was harsh, and he wondered whether it was because she didn’t want him to comfort her or because she didn’t like to show weakness.

Most likely both, he decided.

After considering for a moment to get Emmett – maybe he’d know what to say to her – Jasper decided it might not be the best idea. Quite frankly, he wasn’t sure the other boy would be much help. It was just as likely that he would make matters worse.

“It wasn’t easy for them either, but unlike us, they’ve only had to replace one player this season. We’ve had four. They’re well attuned to each other, while we’ve only had a couple of trainings. We will get better, Hale. It’s not the end for us.” Noticing, how he just sounded as if he was trying to convince himself now, he ran his fingers through his hair and shut his mouth again.

Rosalie laughed humourlessly, looking right through his facade. “As if you actually believe that.”

The Head Boy resigned. With a sigh, he rose to his feet, giving her a few last words of advice: “Don’t beat yourself up. I don’t blame you, the team doesn’t blame you, so don’t blame yourself. We _will_ win the next games and we will win the Cup.” His voice was firm and far more confident than he really felt.

She snorted, turning away from him, and Jasper decided to leave her alone. Some people simply needed time alone to lick their wounds. In fact, he was kind of looking forward to some, himself.

When he walked back to the castle on his own, he was deliberately taking a different route than all of the other students. He had no desire to see anybody.

So much so, that he even decided to take his Invisibility Cloak out of his Quidditch bag (he always carried the cloak with him) and put it on while walking back to the common room. A bunch of students he saw on the way were talking about the game and Jasper couldn’t help but flinch when one of them ranted about their loss in obvious irritation.

Realising, he hadn’t even showered yet, Jasper was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to lock himself in the Prefect’s bathroom and not come out again until tomorrow. His appearance was probably reflecting just how he felt: Utterly fucked up. Earlier, he’d even been too distracted by his argument with Marcus to change into some dry, clean clothes. Meaning, he was still wearing his Quidditch uniform.

When Jasper took off the cloak on the last steps of the staircase, he gave the password to the painting at the entrance and climbed through the portrait hole. Determined to just throw himself onto his bed, Jasper wanted to bury himself under the duvet and stay there forever.

But there in the common room in front of him stood Alice. This was starting to become a regular occurrence. Unlike most of the other times, she’d been waiting for him, though, this time he _wasn’t_ happy to see her.

He’d never thought he’d see the day.

On the contrary, now he felt anger flaring up again at her sight. If it wasn’t for her and her _gut_ _feeling_ , maybe he wouldn’t have been so convinced that they would lose the game.

Maybe it wouldn’t have been a fucking self-fulfilling prophecy from the start.

What was even worse than her bloody gut feeling, was the expression on her face right now. Jasper recognized it instantly, although she’d never looked at him like that before.

With _pity_.

It was impossible to stand.

“Leave me alone, Brandon!” His voice was just a hiss and he swallowed to get rid of the sour taste in his mouth. Pushing past her toward his room, he took advantage of the fact that his legs were almost twice as long as hers.

Jasper was incapable of doing this right now. Yes, they had become friends over the last few weeks, but he still didn’t want company at this moment. Especially not when Alice was wearing that sympathetic look on her face.

He was already through the door of the corridor leading to his room when he heard that she was following him.

“It’s okay, Jazz.” Alice’s tone was almost too soft, sounding like velvet, trying to reassure him, to comfort him.

He wanted to believe her, but he _couldn’t_ , and it was just riling him up even more. What did _she_ know? She’d never been the bloody Quidditch Captain after all.

“It’s not!” His voice was similarly sour as Rosalie’s had been earlier, and he couldn’t stop himself from snapping at her.

Jasper slammed the corridor door closed between them, hoping she’d get the hint. But Alice was unmoved, still walking after him. Opening the door again, she followed him into the hallway, where he suddenly turned around to face her.

And then, the floodgates opened.

“Everybody…”, he began, nearly shouting at her now. “Everybody is counting on me! My whole team has been counting on me. Do you know how that feels, Alice? Having to meet these sorts of expectations? And I’ve got my own expectations, too. I want to win this thing, one last time. I want people to remember me for this! I’m not surprised _you_ don’t get that.” His voice sounded hoarse and desperate.

The last part came out quite mean, too, and he winced, feeling the desire to apologize as soon as he closed his mouth again.

But he just couldn’t. He was still too upset.

Walking away from her again to avoid snarling at her even more, he went into his room, certain that she would not follow him here. Finally, he was able to sit down on his bed, his shoulders slumped, and he realized for the first time how exhausted he really was.

Jasper knew he would have to apologize to Alice later, because he had been rather rude, and he would probably hate himself for that in a few minutes.

But then, to his utmost surprise, Alice peeked around the wooden door and proceeded to walk into his room. Not wasting any time looking around, although she’d never been in here, she sat down next to him on his bed.

Jasper couldn’t help the irrational thought that he was glad he’d tidied up just this morning to distract himself from the impending match. Then he pushed it to the back of his mind again.

“Go away.” He knew he was being rude. There was no excuse for how he was talking to her.

Jasper half-expected her to jump down his throat, finally being fed up with him, but instead, Alice simply shook her head vehemently.

“No.” There was nothing else, just that single simple word.

All he could do was stare up at her in surprise, not able to believe what she was saying. Why was she not leaving him alone? Why would she not get out of here?

“What the hell do you want, Brandon?”

Over these last couple of days, he’d never really called her Brandon for any other reason than to tease her. It felt better now, building more distance between them.

Thinking of distance, Jasper only now realized how close together they were sitting. Their legs were almost touching, and he thought he could count every single one of Alice’s eyelashes if he tried to.

 _Fuck, she was stunning_.

Her big, blue eyes were looking at him with such kindness and Jasper really couldn’t be mad at her for a second longer.

And then, she smiled softly, ignoring the irritation in his previous question entirely.

“To be there for you. You’re right, I have no idea how you feel right now. I’m sure it won’t help if I tell you that it’s just a game.”

Jasper snorted. She was right, the comment wasn’t helpful at all.

But when he looked back at her, Alice was grinning, too, looking absolutely adorable.

She continued. “… but I do know it feels like to be under pressure. I have been my entire life.”

Her grin turned into a sad smile and suddenly Jasper felt like a complete and utter asshole.

Here he was, sitting there complaining about the loss of a fucking game, while she had confessed to him the other day that her entire life she’d tried to prove herself worthy of this position at Hogwarts and in the Wizarding World in general and had been working her ass off tirelessly to achieve that.

Yup, he was an asshole.

“I’m sorry about that,” Jasper said very quietly, hoping it would convey how he was sorry about everything else, too, like snapping at her just now, like being a complete asshole for most of their time together at school. Also, for not understanding sooner how she’d felt all this time.

Alice looked so sweet, so… breakable all of a sudden that he couldn’t fight back the feeling that he’d do anything to protect her from any bad things coming her way.

At the same time, Jasper was once more completely _struck_ by how close she was, seemingly leaning in as if she was feeling this, too, this irresistible _pull_ … this electricity between them.

Her eyes were staring directly into his soul. It took his breath away.

His heart nearly stopped when he noticed how her eyes were wandering down to his lips. Thankfully, his instincts kicked in, since his brain didn’t seem to work properly either.

Jasper had seen this look many times before. Just not on _her_.

And even knowing how he was _most_ _certainly_ going to regret this – when she would inevitably slap him in the face in a few moments – he leaned in, closing that awful distance between them and just went for it, pressing his lips to hers, kissing her ever so softly.

Alice was completely frozen in shock for a moment, unable to move. She had known this moment was going to happen from the moment when Chelsea had caught the golden snitch. But _even_ having known all that, she had just done everything that felt natural, leading up to this point, not trying to force anything but not trying to change it either.

And now they were here, and Jasper _was_ indeed kissing her, and her mind was erased and all she could think about was right now.

She knew she wasn’t kissing him back right now and she _wanted_ to. It was just that Alice was still utterly shocked that this was really happening.

Because it meant that her visions were actually _reliable_.

And at the same time also because this was still _Whitlock;_ the guy she’d spend pretty much her entire adolescence hating.

But she _didn’t_ hate him anymore. What an understatement.

Fuck, she _wanted_ him so badly now.

Alice finally relaxed against his lips, and decided it didn’t really _matter_ anymore so she might as well just go for it.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, lifted one leg over both of his so that she was straddling him, and kissed him back _hard_ , parting his lips and sliding her tongue in his mouth.

She couldn’t help but feel that all this loathing of the past couple of years, all the frustration, confusion, and tension she’d felt over the last two months in his presence, and last but not least all the attraction she was experiencing _now_ , had been leading them up to his moment.

And she unleashed all of that all on him at this moment, finally admitting to herself that she wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anybody in her life.

Jasper felt as if he was about to pass out.

He was _clearly_ dreaming because there was no way this could be _real_. There was no way, _Alice Brandon_ – of all the people in the world – was sitting on _his_ lap, her arms around him, her hips grinding into his _._

And that she was kissing him like _this_.

He couldn’t stop the soft moan slipping from his lips when her teeth tugged at his bottom lip.

Jasper remembered how badly he’d wanted to do that to her over the last couple of weeks. But he didn’t mind at all that it was _her_ doing it to him now.

In fact, she could do whatever the hell she wanted to him.

Alice slid one of her hands into his hair, holding onto him as he trailed his fingers down her back, making her shiver. Finally, she knew what Jasper’s hair felt like, and it was even softer than she’d imagined. She understood now why he was always running his hands through it.

But she still wanted more. Their bodies were pressed up to each other, she could feel every muscle in his stomach and chest, but it wasn’t enough.

At the same time, the position was awkward, because, even like this, he was still much taller than her, so Alice pushed him down onto the bed, until Jasper was lying on his back with her on top of him. She immediately went back to pressing her lips against his again, once she got him where she’d wanted him.

They were both panting hard at this point, struggling for breath, and Jasper pulled away for a moment to kiss her neck, something he’d fantasized about doing for many years.

When he did, he planted little bites and kisses on her sensitive skin, while holding her tightly against him with both his arms wrapped around her. It once more struck him how small she was, how easily breakable she felt in his arms.

Alice let out a breathy moan when he reached a spot under her ear and Jasper felt like could come right there. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever heard, and he thought his heart was going to explode that it had been _him_ , making her make that sound.

He kissed that spot over and over again until she was _whimpering_ against his ear. Jasper resisted the urge to rip off her clothes right there and then.

When he felt her hips brush against his erection, he decided to change their position to not scare her off by _how_ turned on he really was.

Still with both arms around her waist, Jasper lifted her off his body easily, not really surprised by how light she was, and rolled her onto her back. He settled on top of her, careful not to crush her. Alice was gasping at the contact again, before sliding back both her hands into his hair and pulling him closer, her lips wantonly recapturing his.

God, how many times had Jasper thought about this, having her at this point, on his bed underneath him, absolutely _desperate_ with need. He still wasn’t entirely sure that he wasn’t hallucinating, but well, if he _was_ , he never wanted to wake up.

Alice wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling his body even closer with another small whimper, and he felt surprised by how actively she was participating in this. Jasper had expected her to be shyer.

Whenever he’d thought about this scenario of their first kiss, it had most certainly not been like _this_.

In those fantasies, he would have kissed her goodnight very innocently, after that date that she’d finally agreed to go on with him. Just a short kiss on the lips, nothing too scandalous. Jasper had expected it to take _months_ until she would let him anywhere _near_ this position they were in right now.

Not that he was complaining. On the contrary. He was absolutely _loving_ every second of it.

And in a way, it even made sense. Alice was one of these girls who knew what they wanted, that much he’d always known. And right now – unbelievingly – what she wanted seemed to be him. He wondered how he could’ve been so wrong about her once more, but then realised he should simply stop trying to expect anything from this girl; she would surprise him – or blow him away in this particular case – anyway.

Their kisses got more and more heated and desperate.

Alice had completely surrendered to the conviction that _this was going to happen._

Making out with someone had never felt this good in her entire life. Not with Jacob, not even with the guy from the garden party, not with the other guys she’d kissed. She was unable to stop and incapable of thinking about the consequences of what would happen if they actually _did_ do this. She was just moaning into his mouth, desperate for more friction between their bodies. So bloody turned on, all she could do was to hold onto his shoulders for dear life.

Jasper felt like he was rapidly approaching the point when there was no going back. And although this was pretty much everything he’d ever wanted, he recognised that Alice wasn’t thinking _straight_ right now.

If she were, she _probably_ wouldn’t be underneath him, in this position. They’d never even been on a date. She’d never even given any indication that she _liked_ him. Therefore, somehow it didn’t feel right to do this. And Jasper couldn’t shake the feeling that, while he would never ever regret this, _she_ might.

Consequently, with the most impressive effort of self-control he’d ever had to show, he pulled away slightly, watching with satisfaction how Alice followed his lips, trying to recapture them, and said cautiously: “Eh, Alice?”

Her eyes fluttered open, her pupils black with desire and Jasper almost changed his mind about the whole thing right there and then. Only him reminding himself how much he _loved_ her, prevented him from ripping her clothes off after all.

“Not that I wasn’t absolutely _loving_ what we are doing right now, but…” He had no idea how to phrase it differently and just decided to say it like it was. “… if we don’t stop _now_ , I don’t think I can.”

A part of him was still hoping Alice would tell him she didn’t want to stop ( _then_ he would absolutely not stop either, if it was what she really wanted. Who was he to stand in her way? She could absolutely do to him whatever she wanted), but he thought he knew her well enough by now to know that the shock would set in shortly, resulting in her pushing him away again.

That was also why he felt they had to stop. At least now, she could still write it off as a moment of weakness, but if they went any further and actually _slept_ _together_ , she would most likely be so overwhelmed that she wouldn’t talk to him for at least a month.

And Jasper was right. Her eyes widened in shock and, being away from his lips for the first time in what seemed to be an eternity, Alice also realised for the first time what she had just done. What they had done.

 _Holy shit_.

She had literally thrown herself at Jasper Whitlock, completely crazed with lust for him and had very nearly slept with him right here and there. _Bloody hell_.

The moment of terror set in and she stared at him in shock, not being able to grasp how _Whitlock_ was suddenly the responsible party here, and it had been _her_ who had nearly lost control here just now. It seemed like a parallel universe.

Jasper sensed her mood immediately and rolled off her, giving her some space.

She sat up on the side of his bed, eyes still wide.

He felt like he should probably say something, but had no idea what. At the same time, he was half-anticipating her to actually jump down his throat again, no matter what he would say.

Alice, meanwhile, was freaking out. Naturally.

 _This_ , she had not seen in her vision.

Sure, she’d imagined they would kiss, if the moment ever came to pass, but not like _that_. And it hadn’t been Jasper’s fault either that things had escalated so quickly; it had been hers.

She turned to face him and opened her mouth to say something but was struck by how utterly fucking _wrecked_ he looked.

His hair was even messier than usual, his cheeks were flushed, his lips swollen, and his clothes rumpled. He looked pretty much exactly how was to be expected after what they had just done.

But he was still so bloody gorgeous that she was almost envious for a fraction of a second. Only Whitlock would still manage to look _this_ good after losing a Quidditch match in the heaviest of storms _and_ making out heavily with a girl afterwards.

Alice was sure _she_ looked like she’d just stumbled out of a haystack.

Jasper, of course, didn’t think so.

He was watching her intently, looking for indications of the inevitable explosion that was bound to happen. Alice was absolutely beautiful like this, with her rosy cheeks, her short hair spiking in every possible direction, her lips red and swollen.

Why had he stopped again? Looking at her like this, he couldn’t remember.

“Jazz…” Alice began, and he sighed internally. This was is. This was her telling him this could never ever happen again. “I’m _so_ sorry.” Her voice was full of regret, but in the strangest of ways.

Jasper had thought nothing could surprise him more than her kissing him back, but was proven wrong immediately.

She was _apologizing_?

“ _What_?”

Alice wasn’t done. She was nervously biting her lip again, having absolutely no clue how insane she was driving him with that little gesture. “You were hurting and I just kind of thought… I mean I was trying to make you feel better and…” She broke off.

Jasper felt like she had punched him in the stomach, the high wave he’d been riding on over, the instant she said those words.

 _Great_ , he thought. She only did this to comfort him. Out of pity. Could this fucking day get any better?

She saw the pained expression on his face and immediately back-pedalled. “No! Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t just do this… I mean… I didn’t kiss you back because I felt sorry for you, if that’s what you think.”

“Why _did_ you kiss me back then?” It really was a roller coaster of emotions with her, Jasper thought. He went from high to low to high in just a few seconds.

Alice was staring at him, not really knowing what to say. She knew that he liked her a lot more than she did him at this point. And she didn’t want to give him false hope, if all it turned out to be was attraction in the end. But she also had to be honest now.

“Because… I like you.” She laughed dryly at that. “Isn’t that ironic? I used to hate you so much, I really did, but now… god, I think, you’re so fucking _handsome_ , it’s almost painful! And I wonder how I could never see that. And everybody seems to like you for some reason, and I missed that, too, all these years. But I get it now! At the same time… I know that… well, I don’t think that I like you the same way that you like me, you know? Sometimes you give me that look… I don’t know, like I’m this girl you’ve always dreamed of and I can’t be that girl, Jasper! I _like_ you a lot and I’m attracted to you, but I don’t know if I’ll ever feel the same way about you that you feel about me. So, I’m really sorry that I gave into this… desire, and kissed you like that, because I didn’t mean to… I just don’t think I can do this. I’m sorry.”

There it was, the roller coaster again. Jasper went up and down the bloody thing with every new sentence rolling over her lips.

_She liked him._

She didn’t love him.

_She was attracted to him._

She didn’t want to be with him.

Merlin, was it possible to be impossibly happy and utterly devastated at the same time?

It was his wildest dream and his worst nightmare.

Alice liked him, but she didn’t think she could ever love him. She thought he was handsome, but that was it. There was no chance of her wanting to be in a relationship with him.

Jasper cleared his throat. His voice sounded strange when he said: “I see.”

Alice was eyeing him nervously, like she was really worried about his reaction, and clearly, she was trying to figure out what was going on in his head. She moved away a little, being the one to give him space now.

“I’m so sorry,” she said again.

The Head Boy nodded absentmindedly. His mind was reeling; he had no idea what to do about this. He knew she was probably expecting him to say something, only he couldn’t think when she was sitting here, looking at him like that.

She was so stunningly beautiful and sexy, and _totally not in love with him_ _the same way he was in love with her_ ….

“Can you give me some space, please?”

____________________

Rosalie was shattered.

Being devastated about the loss of this – her first – Quidditch match and regardless of what Jasper had said to her earlier, she did indeed blame herself.

During the whole game, Rose had struggled with the weather conditions. If struggling was the right word. In truth, she had been thrown around by the wind like a leaf.

Although she knew it was unreasonable, she still regretted never having trained in those conditions before. The weather had been awful for most of this past couple of weeks and she should have just gone down to the Quidditch pitch on a particularly bad day.

Then perhaps, she could have figured out how to deal with it.

The advice Jasper had given them before the beginning of the game had been good; to try to fly with the wind instead of against or sideways to it. Unfortunately, it hadn’t helped her all that much, as she’d panicked when the first gust of wind hit her.

And then there had been Leah’s injury.

Rosalie was quite sure she could pinpoint the exact moment they’d lost the game, and it had been when Victoria had practically punched Gryffindor’s Chaser in the gut. How Victoria had not been sent off the pitch for that foul was beyond her.

It all went downhill from there.

Whitlock had been upset about that foul, and while Rosalie had understood that – Leah could have been seriously hurt, after all – it wouldn’t have helped anybody if he’d started to throw punches at the Slytherin Captain.

And then, Chelsea had caught the Golden Snitch.

Up to that point, everybody in the stadium had known that there was still hope for Gryffindor, if Rosalie managed to catch the tiny golden ball before the Slytherin did. But after that, it was over.

Truth be told, Rosalie had no idea how the other girl had even seen the ball in those kinds of conditions. She could hardly see further beyond the tip of her broomstick.

It was all so repugnant.

Right now, the blonde was in the Prefect’s bathroom in the fifth floor.

She, herself, wasn’t a Prefect, but Bella was. The other girl had given her the password, realizing that Rosalie was in desperate need of some time alone to recover from her disappointment.

For that reason, before Rosalie had even gone back to her dormitory, she’d decided to come here instead. She had thrown her dirty Quidditch uniform in one of the corners and had stepped into the hot water of the pool.

It wasn’t just disappointment that was weighing her down, though. Rosalie felt bad about many things, including how she’d snapped at Whitlock when he’d tried to comfort her earlier. Especially, because she had been able to tell that he was pretty miserable himself, almost blaming himself as much as she blamed herself. He’d told her it wasn’t her fault, but both of them had known that it was a lie.

Jasper had had a point, though, saying they hadn’t been playing together for as long as the other team had, but Rosalie knew that Gryffindor’s team – at least in terms of their individual players – was better.

That made the whole thing even harder to accept.

But then, suddenly, there was a noise coming from the door, ripping her out of her thoughts and self-pity, and Rosalie flinched.

 _Oh, Dear Merlin, please tell me Clearwater or one of the other Prefects isn’t coming in here_ , she pleaded silently.

Since she was sitting in the bath completely naked, only the bubbles from the bath supplement covering her body, that wasn’t exactly the most pleasant scenario.

Resisting the urge to grab her wand and summon her towel from the other side of the bathroom, she stared into the darkness surrounding the entrance, trying to make out something in the obscurity.

Then, after a few seconds, no other than McCarty stepped out of it.

Rosalie both relaxed and grew annoyed at the same time.

“What the fuck are you doing here, McCarty?” It was more of a hiss, but Emmett didn’t flinch as he walked closer confidently, crouching down next to her bath.

“Seth gave me the password,” was all he said. “Bella told me you were here.”

He’d seen her naked many times, but it felt weird this time, with him being fully clothed and her entirely bare. Rosalie almost blushed under the way his eyes trailed down her body, even though he probably couldn’t see much due to the bubbles. Strangely, it still felt more intimate than their usual physical interactions.

“Do you mind some company?” His body was just as dirty with mud and sweat as Rosalie’s had been just a couple of minutes ago. Emmett’s voice managed to sound both serious and teasing at the same time.

“Yes, actually, I _do_.” Rosalie was not in the mood for flirting. She wanted to beat herself up.

“Come on babe. It’s just a game.” Emmett smiled at her, but it didn’t reach his eyes, betraying that he was just as pissed about this loss as she was.

She resisted the urge to groan at this stupid statement.

Rosalie had always been very competitive. Truthfully, she just enjoyed being the best in every single thing she did and losing had always bothered her more than she cared to admit.

“It’s _not_ , and you know it. You’re just as pissed as I am,” she snapped at him once more.

Emmett gave her a toothy grin. Then, turning serious again, he sighed deeply. “Fine. I’ll leave you to it.”

With a small shrug, he stood up and walked to the door, when suddenly, Rosalie changed her mind.

Mostly, she was surprised that he’d decided to not pester her about this and respect her wishes. Normally it was much harder to get rid of McCarty.

Only now did she realize that she did not _want_ to get rid of him right now.

“Wait.” Her voice was quiet now, almost rueful.

Instantly, Emmett turned around; his eyebrows raised.

She shrugged. “You can stay if you want. You look in awful need of a bath, to be honest.”

Pretending to look him up and down in proper disgust, Rosalie snorted.

It made Emmett laugh. “I know, right?”

He walked over to the wall, took off his clothes and folded them neatly, placing them next to her discarded Quidditch robes.

Rosalie wasn’t even pretending that she wasn’t staring at him. In her option, he was the hottest guy at this school, topping even Whitlock and Masen. She’d always been into more bulky, muscular guys and while Whitlock and Masen were _pretty_ , Emmett was _hot_.

But perhaps she shouldn’t stare at him for too long, because after all, the promise she’d made herself, still stood; she wasn’t going to sleep with him this year.

Looking at him like this, while he walked over to the bathing pool she was sitting in, Rosalie couldn’t remember why she’d made that promise in the first place.

_God, he was sexy._

When Emmett had sat down in the pool opposite her, directly looking her in the eyes, his mouth turned into a grin. He knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Like what you see, Hale?”

She narrowed her eyes but still replied honestly. “Yes.”

Emmett seemed surprised that she was admitting her attraction for him so easily, instead of fighting back like she usually did. But he could tell that the blonde was still in a pretty bad mood, so he decided not to tease her about it.

Instead, he said: “Out of the three last years in which Jasper won the Quidditch Cup, there was only one where he didn’t lose _any_ games. It’s not the end of the world. The other two times, he managed to still win it, despite losing one game each season. Have some faith. We can do it. Slytherin is not that good. Hufflepuff and _especially_ Ravenclaw have a pretty good chance against them.

That actually _did_ help.

Rosalie remembered those two years. In that first season, Gryffindor had lost the game against Hufflepuff, which had been the most embarrassing thing about it. It had been Jasper’s first year as Captain. And then, last year, they’d lost against Ravenclaw.

So, in a way, Emmett was right. With luck, they could turn this around.

But it wasn’t in their _own_ hands any longer and that bothered her.

“I don’t like depending on what _they_ do in the next games.” Rosalie couldn’t force the word ‘Slytherin’ over her lips, too fresh was the memory of their staggering defeat today.

Emmett waved it off again. “You think, I do? But in the end, who cares? After we’ve graduated, do you think anyone will give a fuck _how_ we won the Quidditch Cup? All that will matter is that we _did_.”

“I wish I had your optimism,” Rosalie sighed. “It would be easier if it hadn’t been my fault, you know? If I had caught the Golden Snitch when we were too far behind to catch up or something, so that they’d still won. But it _was_ my fault. I didn’t catch it.”

Rosalie was surprised by how nonchalantly Emmett was waving off her words once more.

“You’ve never flown in this weather before. It was pretty tough out there for all of us.”

“I should have trained in this type of weather! It was always like this during the last couple of weeks!” Her voice sounded desperate now and Emmett looked at her in genuine surprise and some other expression she couldn’t pinpoint.

After a few more seconds, she realized what it was. Pity.

He was _pitying_ her.

It was unbearable.

“Don’t.” Rosalie’s voice was constrained. “Don’t you fucking dare pity me right now. I’d rather you blamed me for our defeat than this.”

“Okay.” Emmett grinned at her impertinently and Rosalie felt her annoyance growing by the second. “It’s all your fault. We lost only because of you. God, you’re such an _awful_ Quidditch player!”

That, of course, wasn’t any better.

If looks could kill, Emmett would be floating in his bath like a water corpse.

He – as usual – didn’t bat an eyelid. Moving closer, until he was standing right in front of her in the water, he smiled at her.

When he spoke again, his voice was soft, every trace of humour and sarcasm eradicated: “Rosalie. You’re incredible, don’t you know that? Not only are you the most beautiful goddess I’ve ever laid eyes on, but you’re also pretty fucking fantastic at Quidditch. Even better than I thought. This was just the beginning. Give yourself some credit and acknowledge that you will absolutely nail it the next time. If you have any doubts about it, I will happily go to the Quidditch pitch every single day after school and train with you.”

Rosalie was completely taken aback, not only by his sudden closeness, but also by his words.

“You’d do that?” Her voice almost broke when she said it.

Emmett was still smiling, a real genuine smile for the first time instead of that confident, cocky grin. “Of course. I kind of have a thing for you, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

It was the first time he’d admitted something like that.

Emmett moved even closer, their faces only inches away now. Rosalie felt her breath hitch, and, without thinking about it, she let her eyes wander down to his lips.

They’d done this so many times and yet, she couldn’t get over this feeling.

Maybe she would never be able to.

The truth was, she wanted him so much, and she knew he wanted her, too.

“If only I hadn’t made that promise that I won’t sleep with you, McCarty,” she whispered, still staring at his lips.

Rosalie didn’t even believe her own words right now.

McCarty was grinning once more. “I felt like maybe you would make an exception today. I could tell that you were in desperate need of a distraction right now.”

 _Fuck it_ , Rosalie thought, closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around him.

 _What was one more time, right_?

It was the last real coherent thought on her mind, before their mouths collided and Emmett’s body trapped her between him and the stone wall of the bathing pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY, haha. You've waited long enough for that first kiss. Let me know what you think?


	16. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Alice and Jasper try to come to terms with what happened between them. Rosalie makes a confession.

_**13.** _

_**~*~** _

_Monday, November 7, 1977_

As soon as Alice had shown up at Rosalie’s dorm the next morning, the blonde had known that something had happened.

The dark-haired Head Girl looked as if she hadn’t slept at all last night if the dark rings under her eyes and her pale cheeks were any indication. And when Rosalie glanced down at her, she realized that apparently, the other girl had also slept in the clothes she’d worn to the Quidditch match yesterday.

Additionally, she seemed generally miserable.

All Rosalie had to do was raise her eyebrow, before Alice began, walking past her into the dorm. Bella had already left for breakfast to meet up with Edward, so they were alone.

“I kissed Jasper.”

Rosalie’s eyes widened, staring at her friend incredulously.

She had not expected _that_.

“ _What_?”

Alice turned back to face her, seemingly agitated. “Or rather Jasper kissed me! I mean, I already knew it was going to happen, but I had no idea it would happen like _this_! It was just so much more intense than I anticipated, and I was completely surprised by just how good it was, you know? And then I practically threw myself at him! He didn’t even mean it this way, I’m sure, but I couldn’t stop, have you ever felt like that? I _haven’t_ … I was practically ready to have him rip my clothes off at that point…”

Her words came out so fast and incoherently that Rosalie had trouble keeping up with her. What she had heard, though, was enough to stare at her friend perplexed.

“Stop!” Her voice was strict. “Slow the fuck down. What happened? Tell me all of it.” And when she saw the Head Girl’s face, she added: “One thing at a time.”

Alice inhaled, for what seemed to be the first time since she’d entered the room, and began again, slower this time: “I kissed Jasper.”

Rosalie couldn’t help but roll her eyes and answered sarcastically: “I gathered that. What I want to know: _Why_ did you kiss Jasper?”

Alice gave her look as if that was the most stupid question she’d ever heard. “Because I like him.”

Now it was Rosalie’s turn to be incredulous. Of course, _she’d_ known this, but Alice actually admitting it, was another story. “You do?”

Alice nodded. “Well, like I said, he kissed me. When he got back to the common room after the match, he was pretty upset. He told me to go away and leave him alone, but I just couldn’t do it. I don’t even know why. It was like an instinct. I couldn’t let him beat himself up like this. He’s just under so much pressure from everyone about this stupid Quidditch thing, you know.” She broke off when she saw how Rosalie glaring at her.

 _Right_. Rosalie was on the Quidditch team, too.

“Sorry,” Alice added a bit ruefully. “I know you care about that, too.” And then, she inhaled deeply, as if preparing herself for the rest of the story. “But then we were just sitting there in his room and he was looking at me like this… sweet, vulnerable… _Golden Retriever_ , you know, and I was just staring at his lips… I couldn’t help myself. It was impossible not to, and I can’t explain why. Yeah, and then he kissed me.”

Rosalie had giggled at the Golden Retriever comparison – because it was so accurate for some reason – but became serious again when Alice finished her last sentence.

Somehow, Rose had sensed that this was going to happen eventually. Eventually, – at least in her world – people who loathed each other so passionately, would either kill each other or hook up. But she hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

Although, Alice and Jasper had been flirting heavily over these last few weeks, and her friend had admitted to being attracted to him, so perhaps Rosalie shouldn’t be overly surprised at the timing.

Moreover, when she took into consideration that she had broken her own vow last night, too. She longed to tell Alice about what had happened in the Prefect’s bathroom with McCarty yesterday, but right now, her focus was on her friend.

“How was it?” Rosalie was always someone to ask the important questions first.

From the looks of it, pretty good, because her friend was blushing intensely. Rosalie wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, which made Alice even more flustered.

The Head Girl decided to simply tell her friend everything. “In case you didn’t gather that from my rambling earlier: It was pretty fucking good. God, he’s so hot, I… the second he kissed me, I just lost my mind. I nearly jumped him, as I said. Before either of us really knew what was happening, we were just making out heavily on his bed, and then…”

Rosalie’s jaw was basically on the floor now.

 _This_ she had not expected. Sweet little Alice?

“Hold on a second? _Did you actually_ shag _Whitlock_?” She was practically screaming that last part and Alice flinched, glaring at her.

“I didn’t,” she said vehemently. And then, more rueful: “But I absolutely _would_ have. It was _him_ actually, who stopped, believe it or not.”

Her voice was still full of embarrassment. It still felt weird, thinking about how Jasper had been the one with the last few brain cells. And while back then, she hadn’t wanted to stop, in the cold light of day, she was glad that they had. It wouldn’t have been fair to him. Alice had to figure out what she was feeling first, otherwise, she would just hurt him again.

Meanwhile, Rosalie couldn’t stop herself. She started laughing. The whole thing was so absurd.

Perhaps she really should have known that this was going to happen, after how they’d been acting for the last few days. After all, it had been a pretty similar story with her and Emmett.

But she’d never believed it would happen that exact same way for _Alice_ and _Jasper_. Of all people!

Alice was not amused by her sudden outburst of laughter. “It’s not funny!”

Forcing herself to stop laughing, although she still thought that it was absolutely hilarious, Rosalie held her sides and put on a – hopefully – neutral grin.

“It kind of is, though. Think about it for a second from my perspective: History is repeating itself. Isn’t this exactly what happened with me and Emmett? These damn Marauders with their infuriating, yet sexy personalities – and bodies - managed to win us over after all.”

Only then, did Alice notice the irony and the parallels and, despite herself, had to grin as well. “Okay, fair enough. I see your point.” But then, she turned serious again quickly. “But once we stopped, we talked about the whole thing, and I think I sort of told Jasper that I didn’t really want to be with him?”

Rosalie’s eyes widened again. _This_ , she could not understand. It was different for her and Emmett. Rosalie wanted to be with him, and the only thing standing in between that, was that he could never take anything seriously in his life. But Jasper manifestly wanted Alice to be his girlfriend. In fact, it was so obvious how he was in love with her, that it was almost embarrassing. And they would make a great couple, too, once they finally admitted it.

“Why not?”

Alice was suddenly frightened for some reason. This was it. The moment of truth. “Can I be honest with you?”

Rosalie nodded; her eyes soft with encouragement. At that moment, the Head Girl knew that her friend would never truly judge her and only wanted what was best for her.

She bit her bottom lip, not sure how to voice her thoughts. Especially, since she didn’t even know herself, how exactly she felt.

But then, she sighed, resigning. She might as well rip the band-aid off as quickly as possible, and try to put them into words, all those conflicting emotions which she’d developed over the last months.

“I do like Jasper,” Alice admitted. “I really do. It’s… strange. He confuses me. But mostly, my feelings _confuse_ me. Because I can tell you with absolute certainty that I’ve _never_ looked at him that way before this year. And now I can’t seem to stop.” She broke off, avoiding Rosalie’s eyes, not quite finished yet. It felt good, though, getting this off her chest, so she continued. “But at the same time, I’m scared. What if he turns back into the person he was a few months ago? I do believe people can change, but not _that_ quickly, and I feel like… like I would be _hurt_ if he did.”

That was an understatement. Alice felt like she would be absolutely _shattered_ if Jasper fell back into his bullying, arrogant old habits.

But she didn’t have the time to think about it now, because she still had more to say.

“And I worry about him, too, because the way he looks at me sometimes is just… so _intense_ and I don’t know if I can give him what he’s looking for, you know? He’s so obviously in love with me and… what if he has this ideal of me in his head that I can never live up to… and what if I _can’t_ feel the same way about him? Ever? Not even if I wanted to?” Her voice was desperate now. Last night she had caught herself thinking about that a lot. Perhaps, she did want to love him back. But she didn’t know how.

Alice finished with one last sentence, putting all these worries into actual words: “I’ve never been in love and I don’t know if I _can_ be!”

It was the longest speech she’d ever made about feelings. While on one hand, it felt good, finally saying those things out loud, it also made her feel vulnerable on the other hand.

When she looked up nervously, she realized that Rosalie was wearing an astonished expression on her face. The blonde seemed to be genuinely shocked to hear Alice say all those things.

“Also, has Whitlock always looked _this_ good?” Alice added jokingly to lighten the mood. “Why did nobody tell me that before?”

It wasn’t like it mattered anymore. She could joke about this now. The cards were on the table.

It worked. Rosalie started to laugh, and her dark-haired friend joined in.

“To answer that question, _yes_. Unfortunately. And he knows it, too.” Rose giggled, but turned serious again after a second. It was clear to her that these thoughts had really bothered Alice for a while now, and that she actually wanted to Rose’s honest opinion.

“It sounds to me as if you don’t have to worry about that last part.” Her voice was soft when she said it, yet still careful. She had no idea how Alice was going to react to her words. “You know, about you being unsure if you _can_ fall in love. Clearly, you’re very attracted to him and you _like_ him, too. And you guys are good together. So I think – and don’t hex me for this – that you’re already on that path.”

Alice couldn’t stifle the gasp and her jaw dropped open. Was Rosalie serious about this? Gaping at her friend disbelievingly, she watched as the other nodded affirmatively.

“I’m sorry for being so shocked about you and Whitlock, initially, and about how you said you feel,” Rose continued, now ready to talk about her own feelings. “I’m just… For some reason, I just feel like…”

It was her turn to look for the right words. Angry at herself for stammering around, Rosalie shook her head and reined herself back in.

Then she met Alice’s eyes again, firmly, and said with a solid voice: “The reason why I’m so surprised to hear you say this, is that I’ve only just _now_ realized, that this is pretty much exactly the same way I feel about McCarty.”

Alice had no idea what to say.

Out of all the things Rosalie could have said, nothing could have shocked her more than that statement.

Rosalie was comparing her feelings for Emmett – _real_ feelings; she’d even called it love on a few rare occasions – with the confusing emotions Alice had for Jasper?

The blonde noticed her dismay.

“With one exception,” she added, not wanting to confuse her friend even more. “You’re still _unsure_ about what it is between you two. I _do_ know that with Emmett. I _love_ _him_. But I’m still worried it won’t be enough.”

It was only the second time Alice had heard her friend admit she loved Emmett.

Realizing, it could not have been easy to say those things out loud, she walked over to Rosalie’s chair and pulled her friend into a hug. Rosalie laughed against her hair, sounding almost relieved.

Then she whispered in the other girl’s ear, almost ruefully again: “Did I mention that I had sex with him last night?”

“ _What_?” Alice pulled back in astonishment. Hadn’t Rosalie always insisted that it was not going to happen this year? “How did _that_ happen?”

“It wasn’t unlike your situation with Jasper, actually. McCarty came to look for me after the game and… well, he managed to say all the right things somehow. So I couldn’t resist. What can I say?” She shrugged, not really regretting anything. “I’m weak.”

Alice laughed at that. “We both are.” She pulled Rosalie back into another hug.

“God, these stupid Marauders,” the blonde murmured against Alice’s hair sarcastically, and the Head Girl couldn’t agree more, now also giggling.

“Yup.”

When they pulled apart, for some reason Alice felt like their friendship had reached a new level. All the cards were on the table now, there were no secrets anymore. Rosalie looked at her as if she’d had that exact same thought and they smiled warmly at each other.

Not for the first time in her life, Alice was glad to have a friend like Rosalie.

“And now, I want you to tell me about every little detail of you making out with Jasper.” Rosalie was grinning at her friend once more, throwing herself onto her bed and wiggling her eyebrows once more.

But when she looked back at Alice, she realized that the Head Girl’s face had turned quite serious again.

“What is it?”

Alice exhaled deeply. Whenever she thought about their kiss, it came with the memory of the disappointment on his face, when she’d told him she didn’t think they would work as a couple. “I think, I ruined it already. As I’ve said, I told him that I might never feel the way about him that he feels about me and that I just… couldn’t do this. You should have seen his face.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes. Although her friend was one of the smartest witches at this school, she could be really fucking stupid sometimes.

“Nobody says you have to _marry_ him right away, you know. As we’ve just established, you’re on a pretty good way to fall in love with him and he… well, he does _love_ you. But is that so bad? At least, _he_ can admit it.”

Her voice sounded almost bitter now and Alice knew that her friend was really talking about Emmett.

“Why don’t you just talk to Emmett, Rose? Tell him how you feel. He’s not going to hurt you, not this time. I just know it. I _know_ he feels the same way.”

Rosalie gave her a look as if she’d never even considered that possibility. It would be so easy. Had Emmett not told her last night that he had a thing for her?

If she was honest with herself, she knew that their back-and-forth would have to end eventually. At some point, one of them would have to make a decision. And since so far, Emmett hadn’t made a move, perhaps Alice was right; it had to be her.

And even if this meant that she would spend the rest of the schoolyear miserable, the alternative was absolutely worth it. Her heart fluttered at the thought that Emmett could actually be hers after today.

And then, she made up her mind.

 _Yes_. She would try.

“You know what? I will. But only if you go out with Jasper.” She grinned at Alice’s gasp at those words. The blonde knew that she was guilt-tripping her friend in a way, but some people clearly needed to be forced into happiness. And if she was about to open up her heart to one of the Marauders, it only seemed fair that Alice would have to, as well.

Rosalie continued: “Give the poor boy a bloody chance for once, instead of rushing for the door at the smallest sign of his feelings for you. It is bollocks, Alice, that you think you’re not capable of love. You just hadn’t met the right person yet.”

And when she saw Alice’s gaze and the frown on her forehead, she corrected: “Well, maybe you _had_ met the right person, but he was just too busy being a pompous toad at the time. And don’t be afraid of being hurt. I don’t think Whitlock has in it him, to ever hurt you.”

For a few seconds, the blonde prepared herself for the curses that the other witch was most likely going to throw at her now.

But then, Alice said, to her friends’ utmost surprise. “Fine. Let’s do it.”

This, Rosalie had not expected.

“Right now?”

The Head Girl simply nodded, having no idea where her courage came from, all of a sudden. “Absolutely.”

_______________________

This morning, Jasper had decided to go outside and sit down at his favourite spot at the Great Lake instead of going to breakfast. It was a lovely day, and although the grass was still wet from the storm yesterday, and the castle grounds were covered with twigs and leaves, the Head Boy enjoyed the cool soft breeze.

It helped him think.

Another reason why he’d decided against going to breakfast, was that he wasn’t ready to face the members of his House; not after he’d let them down like this during the game against Slytherin.

Jasper remembered the games he’d lost in the previous years vividly, but even those hadn’t been as hard on him as this defeat yesterday. At least back then, they’d never lost against _Slytherin_. He was a sore loser anyway when it came to Quidditch, but losing against their biggest rival made it ten times worse.

Mostly, he was out here because he wanted to think about Alice, though. This morning, he hadn’t seen her because she’d already been gone when he came out of his room. Wondering, if she had decided to ignore him again after what had happened between them, Jasper had felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He didn’t know how he would recover from it this time if she had. All those other times she’d hurt him were nothing against the pain he’d felt last night. Because this time, he’d been so close. And over the last few weeks, he’d actually gotten his hopes up.

Before, there was never any reason to believe that she liked him. And to be honest, even after the last couple of weeks, it had still taken him completely by surprise when she kissed him back.

Then again, one could never really know with Brandon. She was incredibly unpredictable.

The Head Boy hadn’t slept at all last night. One of the main reasons why he hadn’t been able to, was that he’d been even more aware than usual, that Alice was sleeping only a few feet away from him in the other room.

And knowing that she thought, “ _he was so handsome it was almost painful_ ”, didn’t help.

He’d been tossing and turning in his bed, not being able to shake the thought, that if he’d gone over to her room last night, she wouldn’t have rejected him. Of that he could now be fairly certain.

He could have _had_ her if that was all he wanted.

But it wasn’t.

Of course, Jasper wanted to have sex with her. That was not the problem. Very badly, too. But not in the same, casual way he’d been sleeping with Maria for the last couple of months. The Head Boy wanted Alice in every single way there was.

He wanted the cheesy romantic stuff. He wanted to show her off to the world. He wanted to hold her hand in public. He wanted everyone to know that she was his.

But she wasn’t.

At the same time, he realised it was unfair of him, to have these high expectations of her. She had only just started liking him this school year, and that was barely two months old. How could he expect her to change her mind about him so quickly and so radically? After all, love was something that had to grow over time. And he’d made such great progress. They were friends and she actually had started to care about him over the last two months. On top of that, Alice was also attracted to him now. Jasper knew he should be satisfied with what he had.

But he wasn’t.

Jasper had always been an _all-in_ kind of guy. Always wanting everything, he was usually very good at getting it, most of the time even without having to try hard. Next to him becoming an Animagi, Alice was the one puzzle piece in his life that he had worked for harder than for anything else.

When he thought about it this way, suddenly he felt stupid. It was true, he had tried very hard this year to make her like him. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to find out more about her, to stop behaving irresponsibly, to become her friend. And now he had achieved that.

Was he not used to the pain of being rejected by now?

Had that ever stopped him before?

Was he really going to throw in the towel when he was _this_ close?

Was he going to give up on this future that he always wanted, with Alice by his side?

Jasper clenched his teeth and exhaled deeply, feeling calm all of a sudden.

Absolutely _fucking_ not.

He would charm the pants off her – literally and metaphorically if he had to – until she had no choice but to fall in love with him. Jasper had no idea if Alice had ever been in love with someone else, but if she _had_ been, he would go find the guy and question him while taking fucking notes, if that was what was necessary.

Jasper loved her.

He would fight for this girl for his entire life, if that was how long it was going to take.

And he was going to start now.

Determined, he stood up from the ground, packed his bag, and made his way back to the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, this one is rather short, but I have to edit the next one heavily and I wanted to post something today. There will be maybe, two or three chapters left in this story and I will try to upload them during the next week.  
> Let me know what you think?


	17. The fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice tries to find Jasper and finds herself in the middle of an unexpected situation instead.

_______________________

She had looked for him everywhere.

But so far, she hadn’t succeeded in locating him. The Head Boy hadn’t been in their common room at the Astronomy Tower. Nor had he been at the library or in the Great Hall. She’d even checked the Gryffindor common room as well as the dormitories of his friends, but she’d only managed to find the other Marauders. They hadn’t seen him either, or if they had, they hadn’t told her.

They had eyed her suspiciously, though, and probably wondered why she was looking for him. From this, she’d concluded that Jasper had most likely not spoken to his friends at all this morning.

It was fair to say that she was close to giving up. The Head Boy would have to show up at the Astronomy Tower eventually, right?

He couldn’t avoid her forever.

She felt oddly determined to find him after her conversation with Rosalie as if a veil in front of her eyes had suddenly lifted. All she wanted was to tell him that perhaps she had been wrong.

That there was a real chance for them.

For once she would not try to self-sabotage this.

On her way back to the Astronomy Tower, Alice passed the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom on the second floor. She had been inside this hallway many times, but something was different now.

Something was off.

The first thing she noticed when she entered the corridor that led to the staircases in the west wing of the castle, was the overwhelming darkness shrouding her as soon as she stepped into it. The candles were blown out and Alice felt a shiver in her bones as she walked on, immediately sensing that something was wrong.

Slowly, Alice put one foot in front of the other. Her steps were short and careful because she could not see anything outside a three-foot-radius.

She wasn’t sure if the chill she felt in the air was real or just a product of her imagination.

Perhaps she was just being paranoid.

But they had all heard the stories, about the rise of the You-Know-Who and his followers, threatening to take over control of the Wizarding World. Just a few days ago, Alice had read about it in the _Daily Prophet_ : they were speculating whether the Death Eaters would try to infiltrate the ministry.

Sometimes it was all too easy to forget what was going on in the outside world.

Her steps took her toward the end of the corridor; she was eager to get out of here. Although deep-down she knew her anxiety was silly, she could not stop her heart from racing in her chest as she approached the next corner.

When she had finally made it to the exit, Alice inhaled deeply, seemingly for the first time since she’d stepped into the dark hallway.

How silly of her to be on the edge like this.

After all, this was still Hogwarts. And everyone knew that the only person in the world who the You-Know-Who feared was Albus Dumbledore. Surely, he would not be stupid enough to show up _here_.

Her relief didn’t last long.

The moment she walked around the corner, she found herself in the hallway in front of the Girl’s lavatory on the second floor. It was the one where Moaning Myrtle had found her home.

But the ghost of the young girl was not why Alice froze in place - terror-stricken - the moment she grasped the scene in front of her.

Because what she saw right there in the hallway was _terrifying_.

Momentarily, Alice wasn’t able to move; she was rendered immobile in shock.

Their wands were raised, pointed at something she couldn’t make out at first because of the darkness. The only source of light in the hallway was the small orb floating close to the ceiling. Laurent must have been the one to cast the spell, because the tip of his wand was still pointed in the direction the light.

But he wasn’t alone.

It was hard to see anything in the obscurity, but one thing became clear to her as day: Victoria and James were not the only other people in the hallway.

Alice hadn’t noticed him at first because he was barely visible from the place behind them where she stood.

What she _couldn’t_ miss, however, were his sobs.

It was Eric Yorkie.

The reason she hadn’t been able to see him when she first stepped into the hallway, was that he was covered by something that looked to her like strange vines, appearing to grow out of the ground.

It appeared almost as if the ground was trying to swallow him whole.

He was crying and pleading incoherently, and Alice felt her heart drop in her stomach.

Whatever was happening here right now: it wasn’t good.

From the looks of it, Victoria had been the one to cast the spell, although all of them were laughing loudly when Eric tried to reason with them, his voice desperate.

Alice had never seen a spell like that before. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it had not been one that they had been taught at school.

 _Dark magic_ , she thought instinctively.

The only reason the three Slytherins hadn’t noticed her arrival yet, was because their backs were facing her.

In her mind, Alice was already running through a million different possible outcomes of this situation, all depending on her decision what to do next.

“Oh, poor Yorkie. Maybe that will teach you a lesson the next time you take my things.”

Victoria’s laugh had a cruel edge to it that made Alice flinch. It was obvious that the red-headed girl had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

In fact, she was _enjoying_ it.

Alice remembered the rumours then, that Victoria and Laurent were apparently just waiting for school to finish so that they could finally join the army of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

“I didn’t take _anything_!” Yorkie screamed back at her.

He was struggling against his restraints while the vines seemed to be tightening around his body. Although _vines_ didn’t seem to be the right words. The floorboards had transformed into something else – a grisly-looking liquid was the best way she could describe what she saw - looking now almost like the roots of a tree; roots that were actively trying to kill Eric at this moment.

It seemed difficult for him to breathe; a vine – or root - was wrapped around his neck, too.

Alice could not stand by any longer. She had to do something.

“Let. Him. Go.”

Her voice was deadly; she was trying to convey how serious she was by just her tone. But Alice regretted her decision to speak immediately after when the three Slytherins spun around to face her.

 _Damn it_.

She should have attacked when she still had the element of surprise on her side.

But it was too late for that now.

James’ face fell when he recognised her. No, in fact, Alice thought he looked frightened out of his wits, the second he laid eyes on her.

Not that he seemed to be scared _of_ her, though. Her former best friend cast a nervous side glance at his two friends who were eyeing Alice with unreadable expressions.

It was obvious that James thought this was going to escalate.

“If this isn’t our _beloved_ Head Girl.” Laurent’s voice was thick with sarcasm and something else that Alice couldn’t quite grasp.

Something darker.

Her hands started to shake slightly, but she could not allow herself to show it. There was no way she could let them know that she was intimidated by them.

Inwardly, Alice was already weighing her chances against the three. The odds weren’t good, that much she knew for sure. If it came to a fight, there was no way the Head Girl could take all three of them at the same time.

Maybe she would be able to disarm one. But what about the others?

She would have to pick carefully who to fight first. The outcome of this situation depended on it.

A quick thought crossed her mind then: perhaps James wouldn’t fight her.

He didn’t seem eager to. And he’d never hurt her in the past, no matter what she’d said to him.

Alice met his dark eyes, looking for a sign – _any_ sign – that he would side with her in this fight. James stared right back at her, still appearing to be frozen in shock at this turn of events.

 _No_ , the Head Girl decided. James was not going to fight her.

She knew that if she was wrong, this would most certainly end badly. But at the same time, she had learned to trust her gut feelings in difficult – or generally most – situations. It was highly unlikely that they would let her down now.

It would be the most logical option to attack Victoria first, then. The redhead seemed to be the smartest and most dangerous of the bunch. Alice would have to take her chances with Laurent after that.

She threw him a glance; the cruel smirk still hadn’t disappeared from the corners of his mouth. He looked almost deranged.

Alice instinctively knew at that moment that the rumours were true. All of them.

These people were dangerous.

Laurent would most likely hex her before she even had a chance to turn towards him. But if she jumped out of the way after disarming Victoria, perhaps she could dodge whatever spell he tried to attack her with.

At least it would give her enough time to figure out how to deal with him – and possibly James, too, should he decide to fight her after all.

At this point, Victoria started laughing, pulling Alice from her battleplans.

“She’s considering trying to fight us, can you believe it? One against three, darling, I don’t think your chances are that great.”

Alice decided to provoke her; maybe she could distract her long enough for someone else to show up.

Deep-down the dark-haired witch knew that she wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. One of them she could take, she was confident in that. On a good day, perhaps even two. But she’d hardly slept and she was exhausted, despite the adrenaline rush she was experiencing right now.

And she was frightened, although she tried to hide it.

The looks in Victoria and Laurent’s eyes scared her.

Eric wouldn’t be much help once the fight started; he was still trapped. If that wasn’t bad enough already, he also genuinely looked as if he was close to suffocating right now. The roots were wrapped firmly around his neck, tightening with each passing moment.

Surely they wouldn’t actually let him _die_ , would they?

She was running out of time; Alice knew she had to act quickly.

“Yeah, that’s how you like it, don’t you?” Thankfully, her voice sounded braver than she felt. “Three against one? Is that what you’ve turned into now, Jam?” She turned to face him directly, holding his gaze. Alice had deliberately used his nickname and she saw him flinch when he heard it. “I thought you always hated that.”

He had most certainly hated it, back when the Marauders had ganged up on him to bully him. Perhaps he needed to be reminded of that.

“Shut up!” James’ voice was almost a shriek, taking her aback.

She stared at him, trying to figure out why he was so distraught. Was it because she was about to fight him and his friends? Was he worried about her? Or did he not want to get into trouble? Perhaps he hadn’t meant to let the situation with Yorkie get out of hand like this.

But it didn’t matter now. Whether James would decide to fight her was not up to her. It was time to focus on the things she _could_ control.

Alice drew her wand, finally.

The three Slytherins raised theirs.

“I give you one last chance. If you do _this_ , I promise you, I will deduct Slytherin so many points that even the members of your own House will want to murder you.” It was a weak threat and she knew it, but she had to try it anyway.

In the back of her mind, Alice was quite aware that her opponents were well past caring about mundane things like house points.

But to her surprise, Laurent actually seemed to hesitate at her words; his eyes flickered to glance at Victoria nervously. Alice felt a shimmer of hope. With a little distraction, perhaps she could manage to get to him, too. Then she would only be left with one opponent.

She was still convinced that James didn’t want to fight her.

Unfortunately, her threat had little effect on Victoria; the redhead snorted with laughter.

“As if we _cared_ , little one. God, she really is tiny, isn’t she?” She turned to James and Laurent with an expression of cruel amusement. “I’m afraid we’ll have to scrape her off the floor once we’re done with her. It will make such a mess.”

“ _Oh, you’re right_.”

The three Slytherins spun around, their dark school robes whirling through the air with the movement. For one moment, they entirely dismissed the danger posed by the Head Girl behind them in order to look at the newcomer.

His voice resonated from the walls of the corridor, but he was not yet visible, still hidden by the dark shadows.

“So why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?”

Alice nearly felt her knees go weak at the sound of his voice. While she had enjoyed his presence more and more during the last few months, she was sure she had never been _this_ glad to see him before.

Jasper stepped out of the shadows at the end of the hallway, looking absolutely terrifying. Taller and stronger than all of them, he was emitting an aura of pure hatred while he was staring at the Slytherins, his eyes narrowed. His entire body seemed tense.

With his wand in his hand, he looked ready for a fight. Ready to take them on. On his own, if he had to.

Alice had never been so grateful for his past behaviours. As much as she’d always hated it in the past - the way he had constantly had to prove himself in a fight - it had also given him quite a lot of duelling experience. Practice, which would definitely come in handy now.

The slightly concerned glances Victoria and Laurent exchanged while looking at Jasper – it was the first time they’d stopped smiling since Alice had stepped into the hallway – convinced the Head Girl that they were seriously reconsidering letting this fight escalate.

There weren’t quite outnumbered yet, but just like Alice, they knew Jasper could easily take two of them at the same time, therefore evening the odds.

James wasn’t so careful.

Now that Jasper was involved, he saw red. It had always been like this with the two of them. Their hatred had not gotten one iota better over the last couple of years, on the contrary. They loathed each other with a passion.

“Ah, Whitlock.” Her former best friend’s voice was icy. “The defender of the bullied at this school. Doesn’t that feel ironic to you?”

Jasper didn’t bat an eyelid. “That’s not bullying.” He pointed his wand at Eric. “That’s torture.”

With confidence, he stepped closer. The three Slytherins raised their wands simultaneously.

Alice was impressed by how unbothered Jasper looked as if he wasn’t afraid at all to get hurt. Perhaps he wasn’t; but at the same time, he wasn’t stupid. He was most likely aware that this could end badly, even with both of them fighting against the three Slytherins.

“Don’t forget about _her_!”, Victoria hissed at Laurent and he turned around to face Alice, the tip of his wand directed at her.

Alice reconsidered her plan from before, then. It would not work anymore, that much was for sure.

When considering that earlier tactic, she’d counted out James entirely. But he would not stay out of the fight now that Jasper was here. And while he might not try to hurt _her_ , she was sure he would not hesitate to get a shot at the Head Boy.

“Leave her alone or I’ll kill you.” Jasper’s tone was colder than even James’s, although Alice had not thought that possible. “And let _him_ go.” His eyes trailed back to Eric.

The other boy was still whimpering incoherently, not able to speak full sentences anymore.

Victoria’s spell would kill him if they didn’t do something, Alice realised.

And the redhead didn’t even care.

Jasper was still staring down Victoria, ignoring the others. Like Alice, he seemed to believe that she would be the strongest opponent.

A memory came back to Alice at that moment: Victoria and Jasper fighting each other in their Defence Against The Dark Arts class two years ago.

They had been practising defence spells – it had been the year when Who-Know-Who and his henchmen had started invading people’s homes. The stories about how they’d been tortured had made rounds at Hogwarts, frightening the students so much that the teachers had decided a few extra classes would be in order to ease their anxieties.

Victoria and Jasper had been paired by their Professor; it had been one of the more memorable fights Alice had seen that day. Both were very skilled at duelling and they each possessed an impressive repertoire of spells. In the end, Jasper had proven to be more resourceful and had won the fight, earning him the applause of the watching Gryffindors.

Back then, Alice had rolled her eyes at his victory, annoyed that this would give Whitlock another thing to boast about in the Great Hall at mealtimes, but now the memory of that training fight gave her hope.

And while she knew that a training fight was not the same deal as a real one, she still felt confident that Jasper could handle Victoria.

All these years, Alice had told him to stop duelling and now they were here, and she was grateful he was so experienced in that field. Truth be told, Jasper could probably take on all _three_ of them and stand a solid chance.

James’s eyes widened, genuinely surprised, bringing Alice back to the present. She realised that only a few seconds had passed.

“You honestly think I would hurt _her_? _Me_?” He laughed, no trace of humour in his tone.

“Maybe not you, Lewis. But I’m not so sure about your Death Eater friends over there.” Jasper nodded at Laurent and Victoria, before facing James again.

Alice couldn’t stifle the gasp that escaped her lips at his words. He was brave, she had to give him that.

For everyone else, it would have been one of the worst possible insults to be titled as a Death Eater. They were out there, after all, murdering and torturing people in the name of the Dark Lord. It wasn’t exactly a good thing.

James looked almost uncomfortable now and for the first time, he avoided to look at Jasper directly.

What was worse, though, was that Victoria and Laurent looked _pleased_ with Jasper’s insult. In fact, they were wearing an almost manic expression on their faces. At that moment, Alice realised that it was a compliment to them rather than an insult.

The rumours _were_ true. This was all the confirmation she needed to be sure.

The thought was terrifying. If they had already made up their mind about joining He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, then they were lost. There were no borders which they wouldn’t cross. They had nothing to lose.

It made them even more dangerous.

And they had disregarded Jasper’s threat, too; none of them had lifted a finger to release Eric. Alice felt like his time was running up, as he could not breathe at the moment. At least judging from the choking sounds coming from his mouth.

She made up her mind to attack as soon as one of the Slytherins spoke again.

Having thrown out her original plan to go for Victoria – she knew Jasper would fight her – she changed her tactic; she would take out James first. Mostly because he wanted to hurt Jasper the most. And she would not let that happen.

She threw Jasper a glance, trying to give him some sort of sign of her plan, but he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were still fixed on the three Slytherins. The disgust he felt for them was written plainly on his face.

Then, three things happened at the same time.

Eric emitted a guttural choking noise.

Meanwhile, Alice pointed her wand at James, screaming “ _Stupefy_!” The light shooting out of her wand hit her former best friend in the back, but Alice didn’t wait around to see if her spell had been successful.

At the same time, Jasper cast a spell she didn’t know. Before Alice had time to move onto the next stage of her battleplan – jumping aside so that Laurent’s curse couldn’t hit her – she was suddenly catapulted backwards.

The force of the blow knocked the air out of her lungs. For a few seconds, no part of her body was connected to the ground.

Then, she crashed into the wall on the other side of the hallway, her back hitting the hard stone. The pain came instantaneously and sharply and she gasped. She slid down to the floor, her face contorted with pain. When it finally subsided a little, Alice could turn her attention back to the scene in front of her.

Only then did she realise what had happened. Jasper’s spell had removed her from the exact spot where Laurent’s _Cruciatus Curse_ would have hit her. Had she still been standing there, it would have hit her directly in the chest.

Alice’s eyes bulged at the realisation as she scrambled to her feet. It seemed almost impossible: Laurent trying to curse her with an _Unforgivable Curse_.

He would not only be expelled for this.

He would have to go to _trial_ in the ministry, possibly facing years in Azkaban.

But Alice didn’t have time to think about the consequences of his actions right now, because the fight was far from over.

From the corner of her eyes, Alice saw that Jasper and Victoria were still fighting fiercely for dominance, their wands flying through the air. The flashes of light which they seemed to shoot at each other, were of the most different colours. The only thing that Alice gathered from the short glimpse she caught, was that Jasper was blocking most of Victoria’s spells while the girl was firing curses at him at second intervals.

Jasper was fighting defensively; Victoria was attacking.

When Alice moved her gaze away from Jasper forcefully – he could take care of himself – it lingered on James. He lay on the floor, still unconscious by her spell.

And Laurent was already pointing his wand back at her, opening his mouth.

Leaving Jasper to his own devices, Alice rolled out of the way over the castle floor smoothly, grabbing her wand in the movement. It had fallen out of her hand when she’d flown through the air.

Again, Laurent’s curse only hit the wall she’d been standing in front of.

But the Slytherin was already in the middle of casting another spell when she pulled herself up to her feet again. This time, Alice did not have the time to jump or roll out of the way.

Like a deer in the headlights, she stared at him with wide eyes. Mentally, she was already preparing herself for the pain.

She had never seen anyone been cursed with the Cruciatus Curse before, but she’d read about it. Various people had described it differently in her schoolbooks, but Alice was sure it didn’t really matter whether it felt like being sliced open by a million knives or being boiled alive in a hot tub of oil.

It would hurt all the same.

While she’d internally already surrendered to her fate, she watched with disbelief as Laurent’s wand flew out of his hand.

For one moment, she was too surprised to understand what had happened. Instinctively, she ran forward, catching Laurent’s wand mid-air before he could get it back. When she held it securely in her hand, she finally looked at Jasper.

He met her eyes, looking right back at her, an almost apologetical look on his face. The tip of his wand was still directed at Laurent.

Only then did Alice understand that Jasper had disarmed the Slytherin – to protect _her_.

But he’d done it at the cost of his own protection.

That quick moment of him defending Alice had been enough for Victoria to scream a curse at him.

To Alice’s sheer and utter terror, Jasper screamed in pain as it hit him, his knees giving in almost immediately. He dropped to the floor like a wet sack of flour. His screams resonated from the walls of the hallway.

“ _No_!”

Alice didn’t recognise her own voice when she yelled it. She had never experienced such dread in her life before.

But she didn’t have time to feel the panic that was threatening to rise inside her chest. Two of the Slytherins were still standing and she couldn’t count on Jasper’s help any longer.

“ _Stupefy_!”, Alice yelled again, pointing her wand at Laurent; just to be safe.

Although he didn’t have his wand anymore, she still wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t just going to jump at her and _physically_ assault her. Since he obviously didn’t have any lines he wouldn’t cross, that wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.

Laurent dropped down to the floor like James before him, passed out.

 _Two down, one to go_ , Alice thought with determination.

She turned toward Victoria at the same time as the redhead moved away from Jasper. Her spell seemed to still be active because his screams hadn’t stopped.

The sound made Alice’s blood run cold.

 _Was that what someone under the influence of the Cruciatus Curse sounded like_?

Once more she felt grateful that Jasper had spared her that fate.

But she had to focus; she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Deciding that Jasper had probably had a reason to fight defensively, the petite witch screamed “ _Protego_!”, at the same time as Victoria yelled “ _Sectumpsempra!_ ”. Their curses met halfway between them in the air, Alice’s spell blocking the other one’s.

Momentarily, she had to bring her hand in front of her eyes to shield them from the light which was set free by the collision.

But since her spell had been shorter, Alice had the advantage now.

She’d wanted to go for _Petrificus Totalus_ next, but it seemed too long. If things went the wrong way, Alice would not even have time to finish her spell before Victoria had come up with something else. Knowing she only had a few seconds, Alice decided to go for “ _Stupefy_!” once more.

Her curse hit the other girl in the arm, while the redhead was still opening her mouth. Alice could pinpoint the exact moment when she saw in Victoria’s eyes the realisation that she had lost. Then, Victoria – unconscious now – fell backwards toward the ground like her two friends, taken out by the spells from Alice’s wand.

Ever since the fight had started, Eric had been released from the roots trapping him – Victoria had not been able to uphold the spell while fighting with Alice and Jasper at the same time. He was lying curled up in a ball against the wall and seemed to have passed out, too.

Alice had no idea what to do next. She was the only person left standing.

Deciding that Jasper was probably going to be fine now that Victoria’s spell was broken, she rushed to Eric’s side, checking for a pulse. It was there and she exhaled deeply. _Thank Merlin._

Since he was also breathing, she was sure he would be fine.

As soon as she’d positioned Eric in the lateral recumbent position, she practically ran to Jasper’s side.

Aside from her, the blond Head Boy was the only person in the hallway who wasn’t unconscious. But he pressed his hand on the right side of his body and groaned in agony.

Kneeling down next to him, she examined him, her eyes scanning him for injuries. She was utterly shocked to find that he was bleeding underneath the hand he was holding to his side.

“ _Jasper_!”

Before he could even look up, she’d brought her hand to his chin, raising his head so she could look into his eyes. “Oh my god, what did she do to you?”

His honey-blond locks hung into his face, wet with sweat, and she pushed them out of his eyes. Normally, the gesture would have dazzled him, but Jasper was in too much pain to even notice it now.

“I think, she meant to take my arm off, but she missed. At least the first time,” Jasper hissed but waved the topic off with his hand. “How’s Eric?”

“Still unconscious, but I think he’ll be fine.” Truthfully, Alice was far more concerned about _him_. It was impossible to forget his agonized screams from just a few minutes ago. “I need to get you to the hospital wing right now. And Eric, too!”

“I’m fine, Brandon.” His voice sounded annoyed now.

Alice stared at him in disbelief. Whatever he was, he was not _fine_. The way he was holding his side - trying to stop the blood flow -, combined with how sharply he was breathing, made it obvious that he was still in a lot of pain.

“It’s not my first duel,” he added dryly when he saw her expression.

Her eyes narrowed. She didn’t like that he was downplaying this.

“You’re not fine, Jasper.” Her voice had a nervous edge to it. She sounded as if she was close to a panic attack. “You’re hurt!”

Eyeing the wound at his side, she wondered _how_ badly. When she had attended that first aid class back at home last year – her parents had insisted on it, witch or not – she had been told that sometimes an injured person wasn’t able to realise how much blood they’d lost or how much pain they were really in.

What would she do if Jasper collapsed due to the blood loss in a few moments? All she knew was that she had to get help. She could not take him and Eric to the hospital wing on her own.

“Can you walk?”, she asked him and now Jasper actually rolled his eyes.

“Of course. I’ve had worse.”

She had no idea what he meant – after all, what could be worse than someone nearly taking one’s arm off, while at the same time being cursed with the _Cruciatus Curse_? - but she was too upset to ask about it right now. She wasn’t entirely sure whether that had been the curse Victoria had cast, but Jasper’s screams still echoed in her mind.

Therefore, _yes_ , it probably had been the Cruciatus Curse.

Glancing over at Victoria’s slumped figure, she stifled the desire to walk over there and kick the redhead in the stomach. That was how angry she felt all of a sudden.

“You only got hurt because you disarmed Laurent! Why the hell did you do that while fighting with Victoria? You gave up your own defence!”

Jasper gave her a look as if she’d said something incredibly dull.

“He was going to curse you, Alice! With a bloody _Unforgivable Curse_! I wasn’t going to let him do that!”

And while she had known that – kind of – she still shook her head slowly, glaring at him.

“Overprotective fool. You tried to be everywhere at the same time. But I didn’t need you to. I can take care of myself.” Although truthfully, she was quite glad that he hadn’t allowed Laurent to curse her with an Unforgivable Curse, she still couldn’t hold back the snide comment.

“I know,” he said softly but didn’t sound convinced.

Under normal circumstances, Alice would be annoyed at him for not believing that she could stand her ground on her own. But since her priorities were different now, and Jasper seemed to be okay and would most likely be stitched up by Madam Pomfrey in a heartbeat, she wasn’t too upset anymore.

She sat down next to him on the floor, her knees brushing against his.

Exhaling deeply, Alice felt as though she hadn’t breathed at all since stepping into the hallway. The adrenaline and tension slowly left her body and, suddenly, all she could feel was the exhaustion caused by her sleepless night.

God, she really needed to rest.

When her eyes met Jasper’s again, she saw that he was watching her from the side. The expression in his eyes was almost unbearably soft. It seemed to be full of relief.

Jasper was glad _she_ was okay.

Inwardly, she groaned at his stubbornness. He should be more concerned about himself.

And while Alice knew that she had to get him and Yorkie to the hospital wing as soon as possible – they were both in desperate need of an examination by Madam Pomfrey – she wanted to sit here just a few seconds longer, just to breathe the same air as he did. He was not the only one who was relieved that they were all right.

Holding Jasper’s gaze, Alice realised that he looked just as tired as she felt. Perhaps he’d also not slept much last night. It made sense. After what had happened between them, it only seemed logical that they had both been up all night, thinking about it.

The memory of their kiss also brought back the hurt look he’d given her when she’d told him that she didn’t want to be with him, and for the first time since the fight had started, Alice remembered why she had been in that corridor in the first place.

To look for him.

She opened her mouth to say something, still not taking her eyes off him, when all of a sudden, she heard a shrill shriek coming from the other side of the corridor.

Both her and Jasper’s heads flew around, already scanning for a new threat.

Professor McGonagall had just entered the corridor, staring in horror at the scene in front of her - four unconscious students -, before her eyes came to rest on Jasper and Alice.

“WHITLOCK! BRANDON!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, this chapter was a pain in the ass. I suck at writing action scenes as I'm sure you will have noticed. I'm still not entirely sure if the next chapter will be the last one or if I'll split it, so this might be the second last one.  
> Thank you so much for your sweet comments! I had a lot of fun writing this story and maybe will return to it with a few one-shots in the future. Let me know your opinions?


	18. All Of His Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ehhh.... what can I say about this? Prepare yourselves?

____________________

Alice was sitting on Jasper’s bed in the Hospital Wing (he had been absolutely horrified that Madam Pomfrey had insisted on giving him a _bed_ ) and watched as the Healer cleaned the wound on his side carefully with a cotton pad and alcohol.

Back in the second-floor corridor, Jasper had insisted that his injury looked worse than it felt and had refused to go to the hospital wing until Professor McGonagall had threatened to deduct thirty points from Gryffindor if he still refused to go.

After that, he’d had no choice but to do it. He still felt guilty about not getting those house points for Gryffindor in the match against Slytherin.

When he’d taken off his shirt, Alice hadn’t been able to stifle her gasp. Not just at the wound on his side – a long slash that looked as if it had been done with a knife – but also because of the _scars_.

If Madam Pomfrey was surprised about them, she wasn’t showing it. Or perhaps she was just a good Healer.

But Alice had been shocked. Jasper’s skin looked like a battlefield: there were so many of them - some bigger, some smaller - but all of the scars had one thing in common: they were half-moon-shaped and looked as if he’d been bitten by a dog.

It took Alice ten whole seconds to remember that that actually wasn’t so far off.

This had to be werewolf bites.

The other day, he’d told her about how the Marauders had figured out that werewolf bites wouldn’t turn them into one, too, if they weren’t in their human form, but apparently, he’d left out the part where he had _actually_ been bitten.

And, from the looks of it, _many_ times.

Jasper gave her a short, encouraging smile and then – almost instinctively - took her hand, squeezing it gently. With a perplexed expression, Alice stared down at their interlaced fingers, taken aback by the sudden affectionate gesture.

She didn’t pull away, though, remembering why she’d been in that hallway in the first place: to find _him_.

 _Fuck it,_ she decided at that moment. To hell with her insecurities.

The fight had made her realize how much she cared about Jasper. Rosalie had been right. Alice was definitely about to fall heads over heels for him.

And looking at him with a side-glance, while he was crunching his teeth when Madam Pomfrey started to heal him – at this beautiful face of his – she was beginning to think that maybe she _was_ already.

Alice had been right earlier, too, with her assumption that it would only take a couple of minutes to heal Jasper.

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall had already talked to them earlier on the way to the hospital wing and they had explained the whole situation to her. Given the rumours that had been circling in the school about the two Slytherins, the Professor had believed Alice and Jasper within a few seconds.

She’d even awarded both of them twenty points for standing up for a fellow student, but - once she had waited to find out that Eric Yorkie would be all right - had then rushed off to deal with the bigger problems that were Victoria, Laurent and James.

Madam Pomfrey hadn’t told them anything about Eric’s condition, other than that he would be alright but just needed to rest. The Head Girl and Boy had waited for her to tend to him before she came back to stitch up Jasper’s wound.

As soon as Jasper – his shirt pushed back down over the fresh new skin on his side - was released from the hospital wing, and the two of them were walking toward the Astronomy Tower again, Alice couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.

“Those bite marks…”

Jasper sighed. He’d expected this question.

“That was Seth?” Alice made sure to keep her tone neutral.

He nodded quietly, looking at her from the side.

Alice didn’t seem to realize it, too distracted by what had happened, but he was still holding her hand.

And people were _definitely_ staring at them.

Jasper was sure that the whole school would know about their fight in a couple of hours, and he wanted to enjoy the time he had with her until then. Most likely, his friends would come looking for him once they found out.

“Did that hurt?” Alice wanted to know, stroking her finger over one of the few scars that were visible now.

He’d rolled up the sleeve of his white shirt, revealing his forearms. The scar was just below his elbow and she ran one finger of her other hand – the one that wasn’t intertwined with his - over it gently.

It made Jasper shiver, although this time, not in pain or discomfort.

“Yeah, at the time it did.” He shrugged. “It’s not a big deal."

Alice groaned at that. What was is with him and not admitting when something was wrong? He’d already downplayed the whole injury-thing and now this.

Was that a special Jasper-Character-Trait, or was that just a boy-thing in general?

The Head Boy gave her a concerned look, wondering what he’d done wrong this time. Before he could ask, Alice had already said:

“Why can’t you just _admit_ it when you’re hurt? Back there, in the hallway… god, when Laurent started with the Unforgivable Curses and… then suddenly, Victoria’s spell hit you, and all I could think was…”

She stopped, not really knowing _what_ exactly she’d thought. Everything had happened so quickly; all she could remember was the utter terror she’d felt when Victoria cursed Jasper.

“Were you worried about me?” He was smiling now.

The dark-haired witch rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

Jasper, on one side, was happy to hear that. She _cared_ about him. But on the other hand, it was kind of annoying, too. He had been in duels many times before.

“There really was no need. I can handle myself.”

Alice resisted rolling her eyes, _again_. “Yeah, I _know_. I’m quite certain you could have taken on these three on your own, but you were too busy trying to play the hero and keeping me out of the fight completely as if I were a child that needed to be protected.”

She glared at him and Jasper couldn’t bite back his grin. She’d looked right through him.

He opened his mouth to reply, but Alice wasn’t done yet. Although they sort of had this conversation before, she still needed to get this off her chest. “I mean, I know you have a lot more experience with duelling than I do, but come on, _Jazz_. Give me some credit here. I’m one of the best students in our year. I know how to cast a spell or two. I don’t need you to protect me.”

Jasper was smiling again at her outburst. Alice was really adorable when she was like this, annoyed - but not in a bad way -, with her words just bubbling out of her.

But then he remembered the fight again and turned serious immediately.

“As I said earlier, Laurent was going to use the _Cruciatus Curse_ on you, Alice! I wasn’t going to take any chances. They clearly don’t give a fuck about the rules anymore. They could go to Azkaban for this. I’m quite sure we won’t see them again. After this, I’m sure they will not finish the school year, this way or another.”

Alice shuddered.

She didn’t know what he meant by “this way or another” and she really didn’t want to think about it. The mere thought of actually being hit by an Unforgivable Curse was dreadful, though, and suddenly she was grateful Jasper hadn’t, _in fact_ , taken any chances, as he’d phrased it.

“Thank you.” She felt like it had to be said. “He would’ve hit me, you know? If you hadn’t cast that spell hurling me through the air, that’s exactly where I would have stood. And I was too busy with James… not that it’s possible to really protect yourself against an Unforgivable Curse anyway. There was nothing I could have done.”

When Alice saw the expression on his face, she realized that it would be better to stop talking now. Jasper looked positively sick all of a sudden.

“But hey, we’re fine.”, she concluded lamely. She was still incredibly relieved that he was okay.

It didn’t help. Jasper was still giving her a strange look. Then, with his voice deadly serious, he said, “If I ever get my hands on Laurent again, I _will_ kill him.”

It was her turn to squeeze his hand reassuringly and she decided it was time to distract him. “Like _that’ll_ help. But we’re alive, and we’re fine, and so is Eric. What I was wondering about, though… why were _you_ even in that hallway? Was that a coincidence?”

They had reached the bottom of the Astronomy Tower and started to ascend the staircase.

Suddenly, Jasper looked almost shy. “I was looking for you, actually.”

Alice turned around on the stairs, finally able to look him in the eyes face-to-face. But only because she was standing two steps above him.

“You were?” Then she laughed and Jasper stared at her in confusion, not understanding the reason for her amusement.

“I was looking for you, too,” Alice explained when she saw his expression. “But I couldn’t find you anywhere. I was pretty close to giving up when I walked into that scene in the hallway.”

“You gave me quite a fright, you know. When I started looking for you and saw that you were there with Victoria, Laurent and James, I immediately knew that something had to be wrong. I practically ran all the way there. I was just afraid I would be too late.” Jasper spoke without thinking before he realized what he’d just said.

It didn’t escape her notice, as usual. He’d noticed a long time ago that Alice was a very observant person.

“What do you mean you _saw_ me there with them?” She raised her eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you have _visions_ , too.” Alice had meant it as a joke, but to her surprise, Jasper blushed.

The Head Girl and Head Boy had finally reached their common room at that moment, and climbed through the portrait hole, while Alice was still waiting for a reply.

When she turned around to face him, her facial expression awaiting, the Head Boy sighed and gave up. Again. He really should get used to this, not being able to deny her anything.

“Fine,” he said after a few seconds. “I might as well just tell you about this, too. My friends will murder me, obviously, but it’s hardly worse than the other things I’ve told you.”

Alice was still looking at him with confusion.

 _Another_ secret? How could one person possibly have so many?

Jasper brushed the strap of his school bag off his shoulder and searched through it, finding what he was looking within a short moment. Then, he handed her a piece of parchment before dropping his bag on the floor again.

The petite girl just stared at the parchment.

There was nothing on it. It was blank.

“Eh… _okay_? Am I supposed to see something here?” Her voice was very confused.

Jasper couldn’t hold back his laughter at her expression and tapped his wand on the parchment.

“ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_.”

Alice stared at him for a few seconds as if he’d completely lost his mind now, before returning her gaze back to the parchment.

Suddenly, lines and words – written in dark ink - started to appear on it, as well as the phrase “ _Moony, Wormtail, Mane and Claws are proud to present: The Marauder’s Map_ ” and Alice nearly dropped the thing.

She didn’t, though, and kept staring at it in disbelief before opening the parchment. Immediately, she realized that what she was looking at here, was a map of the castle.

Every room, every corridor, every broom closet… _everything_ was on here. And if that wasn’t impressive enough, she could make out hundreds and hundreds of dark footprints with tiny little names written on them. The first one she saw was “Esme Platt-Cullen” and Alice looked up to stare at Jasper immediately, her expression questioning.

He nodded. “Everyone is on there. It shows the whereabouts of every student, every teacher, every visitor at this school.”

Alice’s eyes darted instantly back to the map, looking for the Astronomy Tower. There, in black ink, were written two names: “Jasper Whitlock” and “Alice Brandon”.

For some reason - probably to hide her shock at this new reveal - she said: “You got my name wrong.”

Jasper was just staring at her blankly. “ _Eh_ , what?”

“It’s _Mary_ Alice Brandon, technically.”

His eyes widened now, surprised by this news. “Really? I had no idea.”

Alice stared back at the map. There it was again. Jasper had once more managed to impress her.

Back in the day, she’d never thought that could ever happen, although he had obviously tried to. But these things - these secrets he had - were ten times more impressive to her than winning the Quidditch Cup.

Probably simply because he hadn’t been boasting about them constantly.

She looked up again, meeting his eyes. “Seriously, did you guys _ever_ do any _schoolwork_ for the past seven years? Seems to me you were too busy writing secret maps, exploring hidden passageways and becoming Animagi to ever focus on your actual education!”

Jasper was roaring with laughter at her words, and Alice joined in.

When he recovered, he teased her playfully: “Sure, leave it to Brandon to worry about my formal education, when I’ve just told her all of my biggest secrets.” He turned serious again, meeting her eye. “But seriously… I _have_ literally told you all my secrets now. There is nothing else. I think this means that you know me as well as my friends do, now.”

For some reason, Alice was smiling at those words. “I think, I know you _a_ _bit_ better than that.” Her voice was soft as she stepped closer.

Jasper could only stare at her while she fluttered her eyelashes at him. The way she was looking up at him again from those large, _stunning_ cornflower-blue eyes… she took his breath away.

“At least I _hope_ so,” she continued. “Or maybe you’ve kissed them, too, I don’t know…” She trailed off as if she was actually considering that, fully teasing him now.

Jasper was very nervous all of a sudden and let out a burst of breathy laughter.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I have _not_ ,” he tried to play along with her, willing to let her take the lead wherever she wanted to go. Inwardly, he just hoped she wouldn’t sense how flustered he was. “Not really my type.”

“What _is_ your type, then?” Her voice was still playful, but she felt pretty nervous, too.

Alice knew that after this, there would be no going back. If she went through with this now, he would be _hers_ , without question.

Her heart fluttered at the thought. It didn’t sound so bad when she considered it.

“ _You_.”

Jasper’s voice was just a whisper but he meant it with all his heart.

For him, there had never been anyone else. It had always been her, since that first moment he’d seen her on the Hogwarts express seven years ago, her nose stuck in a book and her – then longer - hair in two braids. Maybe it had taken him some time to realize it in the beginning, but he’d always been in love with her.

Alice felt herself melting away at the tenderness in his voice.

She hadn’t realized it until this moment, but _this_ had been all she wanted to hear.

Jasper looked so goddamn handsome like this, staring down at her - as if she really was the only girl in the world for him - and suddenly, it didn’t bother her anymore.

He knew her. Jasper had been there throughout these last few years, growing up alongside her. And she’d shown him her bad sides, too, _a lot_. The Head Boy wasn’t putting her on a pedestal, no. He _actually_ knew her.

“Well, I think, I’ll have to go on that date with you, then, don’t you think?” She was beaming at him brightly, and Jasper felt for the second time in two days as if he was close to fainting.

This couldn’t be real.

Alice was truly going to give him a real chance of _having_ her? Being with her? In every sense of the word?

His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.

“Not so smooth now, Whitlock, eh?” Alice said with a grin and finally, Jasper was himself again.

It was a reflex more than anything; it was like a dance they’d studied for years and years, this back and forth. Only back then, it had never been like _this,_ and it had never made him so unbelievably happy.

“Give me a moment, Brandon. All of my wildest dreams just came true with one single sentence,” he joked back, throwing every single good resolution he’d made during the summer out of the window now. Finally, he’d regained his composure.

Alice laughed again.

“You need better dreams if one sentence can satisfy all of them,” she retaliated and Jasper felt himself grinning because, for the first time in his life, he could tell with absolute certainty that she _was_ indeed flirting with him.

“All right,” he seemingly agreed, before following it up with, “So, when are we getting married?”

His voice was confident now, and Jasper was getting more and more back into his smooth attitude now that she was actually playing along.

For a split second, he saw how her expression turned horrified, before she realized that he was joking (He wasn’t. Not really. He would _absolutely_ marry her at some point in the future).

Jasper started laughing again and thankfully, she joined in after a heartbeat.

“ _Hold your hippogriffs_ , Whitlock. It doesn’t work like that.”

He grinned, suddenly remembering something. “I can’t believe you just stole my line. Do you know how many times I’ve thought about that moment when I would ask you out and you would finally say _yes_?”

“Well, I have vowed to myself a long time ago, that I would never ever _ever_ in a million years say yes to you asking me out on a date _._ I can’t break that vow, can I? So, the other way around is the only alternative that works.” Alice’s response was cheeky, and he couldn’t help but chuckle again.

Jasper vowed something, too, at that moment. That he would spend the rest of his life trying everything he could to make this girl happy.

“Good thing that _I’ve_ not made any such promises,” he shot back, and she smirked.

“Good thing, indeed.” Her eyes gleamed. “Is that a yes?”

“In case, it wasn’t obvious enough by me asking you that question about a million times over the last four years… and also, me nearly passing out in your presence every time you say something like that… _yes_.”

Jasper couldn’t believe her sometimes. How could she even, for one second, doubt his answer?

“ _Good_.” Alice’s voice was a whisper again. “Because I kind of promised myself a while ago I wasn’t going to do _this_ again unless I was actually going out with someone.”

She moved closer and Jasper felt as if his heart stopped for a moment, only to then continue to race again at record speed.

But Alice was sick of waiting any longer and was not going to show consideration for the fact that his knees were weak from the look she was giving him. As soon as she was standing directly in front of him, staring up from those incredibly blue eyes, the Head Girl wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down, and pressed her lips against his.

Jasper had to lift her off the floor instantly; because she was so tiny and their height difference so significant, the position was very awkward at first. When he did, she wrapped both her legs around his waist, and couldn’t help but gasp into her mouth at the contact. For one long moment, he felt as if time had stopped entirely, only focused on the feeling of her lips on his.

But his knees felt like jelly and he was afraid they would give in underneath his body, so he walked them over to the sofa next to the fireplace. Sitting down on it, he pulled her back into position on his lap, with her straddling him again. They had not broken apart for a single moment since she had started kissing him.

All of his dreams were coming _actually_ true, Jasper thought while sliding his hand into her short, dark hair to pull her even closer. It was the first time _she’d_ kissed _him_ \- given that the last time, she’d sort of just kissed him back - and the thought made him feel ecstatic.

And it was quite different than their first kiss in other ways, too. The last time, he’d been upset and sad after the loss of the Quidditch match. _Now_ , he was overflowing with happiness.

“ _Jazz_ ,” Alice moaned into his ear, pulling him from his thoughts. He had broken away from her lips for the first time, nibbling at that spot on her neck behind her ear. The one he’d discovered yesterday.

It drove him absolutely insane how she was breathing his name into his ear. Jasper wanted to hear that sound for every moment of every day until the moment he died.

It sounded a million times better from her lips than from Maria’s.

Probably because he _loved_ her.

But he didn’t have time to think about it further, because Alice was grinding her hips against his right now. Clearly, she was satisfied to find that he was already significantly turned on.

She was, too. That _pull_ between them was too strong to resist it any longer, and she’d known the second she kissed him, that she wouldn’t be able to stop any more than she did yesterday.

The only difference being, that this time Alice was sure Jasper wouldn’t stop either.

Thank God. She wanted him so desperately.

Jasper was still kissing her neck, enjoying the little whimpers she made. At the same time, he ran down his hands on her back to the hem of her robes, finally letting go his grip in her hair. He wanted her naked this time, longed to kiss every square inch of her body, but wasn’t sure if she wanted that, too.

Therefore, he pulled away from her neck and watched – trying to contain his burning desire – as her eyes fluttered open. She seemed surprised – and _not_ pleased, as he noted with delight - by the sudden absence of his lips.

“Is this…” His voice sounded utterly _fucked_ already, and Jasper cleared his throat in an attempt to make it sound less raspy. “Is this _okay_?”

Alice rolled her eyes at him and grinned – looking so _fucking sexy_ , he nearly threw her down on the couch and shagged her brain’s out right there and then – before she said, her eyes returning to his lips,

“ _Yes_. I _want_ you.”

That single sentence made him forget everything else. He kissed her again – aggressively this time –, and bit her bottom lip – _finally_ –, making her gasp into his mouth.

Her breaths came rapidly by now, and her hands trailed to the buttons of his shirt, working her way down from top to bottom. When she’d finished unbuttoning it, she slid the shirt off his shoulders and threw it in a corner.

The blond made fast work of her robes, too, and slid them over her head, leaving her in a simple white undergarment which practically covered _nothing_. His eyes trailed down on her body, taking in the sight of her. When his eyes returned to her face, she was staring right back at him, her pupils’ huge black circles and her cheeks flushed. She looked so goddamn stunning and Jasper felt himself wishing this moment would never end.

He kissed her again on the lips - very softly this time, full of love - before moving down to her collarbone, sliding the fabric to the side to give him better access. Her skin was pale and looked almost like ivory, so soft and pearly.

Meanwhile, Alice was going absolutely crazy. Not that she didn’t enjoy how he was taking his time with her, but she realized at that moment, that she wanted something else right now. She wanted it rough and desperate. There would be enough time to make sweet love afterwards.

But right now, she couldn’t resist that fire burning inside of her and she needed release, otherwise, she was afraid she would explode.

Alice had never been shy to admit what she wanted, at least as soon as she had made up her mind about it. It was something she had done with her previous lovers, too.

At the same time, she had a feeling that Jasper – who seemed to think she was innocence personified - would not expect _this_ of her and the thought gave her a thrill.

“Jazz,” she murmured with her voice breathy, and the Head Boy pulled his teeth away from the skin over her collarbone to meet her eyes.

Clearly, Jasper seemed to be expecting hesitation, maybe even regret or some similar emotion, judged by his suddenly worried expression.

Alice grinned internally.

He wouldn’t know what had hit him in a just moment.

“Yes?” he asked and wanted to add _Do you want to stop_ , but before he could, Alice had leaned in again. She caught his bottom lip with her teeth before slowly releasing it, never breaking eye contact. It made him gasp, the intimacy of it paired with the feeling of her teeth against his lip, and when Alice pulled back again, she looked at him with those big, innocent eyes.

And then, she spoke the sentence that shattered his remaining self-control, “I need you to _fuck_ me. Right now.”

Had he just thought she looked _innocent_?

“ _Jesus Christ_ , Alice,” Jasper groaned, not being able to believe what a dirty little minx she was but loving it more than he could put into words. He felt like that sentence right there had been enough to make him fully hard. “You’re _killing_ me, you know that, right?”

Alice giggled. “I hope not. I kind of need you right now.”

She didn’t need to ask him again, though. With one swift movement, Jasper ripped the undergarment off her - probably tearing it, too, from the sounds of it -, wrapped his arms around her again, and virtually threw her on her back on the couch.

Alice moaned because _this was more like it_. He was on top on her again within a second, holding himself up on his arms to not crush her, and attacked her lips again without mercy.

All she could do at this point was to whimper and pull him closer by his shoulders. She was only wearing her bra and thong at this point and she started fumbling at the belt of his trousers, wanting to get him equally naked.

At the same time, Jasper was sliding his fingers under her bra strap, pushing it aside and sliding it down her arms. Perhaps Alice just wanted him to fuck her senseless, but _he_ wasn’t going to do this, without at least getting his mouth on her breasts. He’d fantasized about that too much to pass up this opportunity.

Alice had opened his belt and the clasp of his trousers and slid them down over his ass, stroking her hands over it in the process. She revelled in the way it made him shudder in pleasure. Once more she wondered how she’d never noticed before this year how truly sexy he was.

Jasper had already moved his mouth down to her breasts, pulling at her nipples with his teeth. He continued to repeat it because of the way she was moaning his name desperately as he did. It convinced him that she was enjoying this just as much as he was.

Feeling completely mad with lust at this point, Alice was writhing and wiggling underneath him. She rolled her eyes back in her head and curled her toes against his back, hoping it would get him to move faster.

Jasper had to hold her in place, steadying them, otherwise, she would have probably caused them both to fall off the sofa.

The dark-haired girl was close to begging at this point. She wanted him to touch her - _really touch her_ \- so fucking badly. Jasper seemed to have so much more control over himself than she did. The truth was, she had been ready to climb him like a tree since the moment they had started to take each other’s clothes off.

And maybe, Jasper was waiting for her to beg. He felt so high with arousal, having her so desperate for him, completely at his mercy. It was his new favourite feeling.

While he’d never expected things to move forward _this_ quickly between them, it still felt exactly right somehow. All this frustration, all this tension that had bottled-up over the last couple of years had to be released somehow, on her side and on his. He felt as if he wasn’t going to last long, though, once he was inside her. Especially after having wanted her for so long.

Therefore, he wanted to get her as close to the edge as possible.

Just when he had made up his mind to finally touch her where she wanted him to, Alice had apparently decided to give in as well.

“Jazz, _please_. Please, touch me!”

Instantly, he changed his mind again, wanting to torture her just a little bit longer. The sound of her _begging_ was too tempting, and he wanted to hear it again.

“Hmh?” he made as if he had no idea what she was talking about, looking up from his ministrations at her nipples. She was staring at him then, looking so utterly fucked already that he almost gave in right there and then. Jasper knew he’d never seen anything sexier in his entire life.

“What is it?” he continued innocently enough.

She glared at him, now with frustration and desperation. For one moment, Jasper thought she would just push her own hands between her legs - because she seemed to be considering it right now - but then Alice just pulled him closer by his hair and kissed him again furiously, their tongues battling for dominance.

Jasper gave in then, sliding his hand between their bodies, trailing his fingers down from her stomach to her thighs. He loved the way she moaned into his mouth breathlessly and how she was moving her hips up while opening her legs wider, to give him better access.

Back when he had been younger, Jasper had always thought it would be amazing if both of them could have their first time _together_. Right now, though, he was glad it hadn’t been like that. Although he despised the thought that someone else had made Alice feel this way before him, he was glad that she was so bold, so proactive. He was also glad that _he_ knew what he was doing, because he would have hated for her to not enjoy herself the first time they slept together.

So when he slid his fingers under her thong – because _of course_ she was wearing a thong, and a lacy one at that, too, that little minx – probing her folds, he knew it was better this way, with both of them having experience with other people.

Alice was completely incoherent now, mostly just whimpering his name and some other things that mostly sounded like “Yes”, “God”, “Please”, and “More”, so Jasper was clearly doing something right here.

It was so satisfying to finally being able to do these things to her that he’d always dreamed of. At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel proud of himself that he’d managed to get to this point after all, that she was allowing him to please her.

She was so wet for him; it made him groan into her mouth when he first realized it. Obviously, he had known that she was loving this as much as he did, but to feel the evidence of her arousal on his fingertips was on a whole new level.

Jasper dipped his fingers inside of her, nearly collapsing on top of her when he noticed how tight she was, too.

No, he wouldn’t last long.

He made sure to bring her close to the edge a couple of times, before stopping his ministrations again to prevent her from coming too soon.

He was looking forward to the next time they did this – because he was sure by now that they would -, when he could try to make her come multiple times in a row, but right now, he wanted her to only come when he was inside of her.

Alice had started begging again. The Head Girl couldn’t believe how incredibly amazing this felt. Sure, she’d known that Jasper was attractive for a while now, but if she had known it would feel _this_ good to have sex with him, she would have gotten over herself a lot sooner.

When she started begging again the last shred of self-control he’d possessed vanished into thin air immediately. Jasper was going to give her what she wanted now, and was not capable of resisting his own urges any longer.

Meaning, he wanted to fuck her _senseless_ until she forgot her own name.

Slipping off her thong and his own pants quickly, he settled above her. With the last functioning part of his brain, he reached for his trousers, which were lying next to them on the floor. Alice gave him an impatient look, but he ignored her because this was important. When Alice saw him take a condom out of his purse, she blushed, embarrassed about how she hadn’t even thought of that. He rolled in on as quickly as he could. He was running out of patience.

Guiding his cock to her entrance, he kissed her lips gently again, trying to convey that this was not just a one-time thing for him. He wanted to keep doing this for the rest of his life.

At the same time, Jasper wanted to look her in the eyes when he did this – to make sure that she was okay, but also to see her reaction -, so he pulled away from her lips and stared down at her.

Alice looked so gorgeous like this, with her short hair messy on the sofa cushion underneath her and her cheeks flushed in a lovely red colour. Her parted lips were also red and swollen, looking well-kissed. She was exhaling breathy moans.

She opened her eyes as soon as his face pulled away and met his eyes, pleading with him to finally give her what she needed. Jasper was sure he would never be able to deny her anything for the rest of his life.

But he also wanted to make sure, one last time, that she was comfortable, that this was okay. Mostly, because he knew exactly that he wouldn’t be able to think about any of those things anymore in a few seconds.

Alice gave him a short nod – knowing exactly what he was asking without words-, and she nearly rolled her eyes at him again as if to say _Do-it-you_ - _bloody_ - _idiot._ Jasper grinned down at her as he impaled his entire length into her body with a groan. Her eyes widened as she whimpered, and for a few seconds Jasper was worried that she was hurt, but then she ground her hips against his, trying for more friction, and he was relieved.

He gave her a few shallow thrusts to get used to him. But then, Alice moved one of her hands down to his ass as if to guide his hips harder into hers, and Jasper started to fuck her properly, setting a steady rhythm.

He could tell that Alice was even closer to the edge than he was, by the way that her eyes were rolling back in her head at every thrust. Also, the nails of her right hand bored into his shoulder almost painfully, which turned him on even more. Apparently, he liked this sort of pain although he’d never noticed before. But then again, he’d never been inside _Alice_ before either.

Her other hand was gripping the fabric underneath her, as she tried to steady herself and prevent Jasper from fucking her straight into the armrest of the couch.

Jasper was kind of hoping this moment would never end, because it was utter _perfection_ , - how she was clinging to him, how every inch of her body pressed against him and the way she felt around his cock – but he knew it would, and sooner than he would like.

All those fantasies he’d had for the past years hadn’t even gotten close to the real thing.

Alice pressed her mouth against his shoulder to smother her scream when she came, the entire world exploding in white right in front of her eyes.

She’d never felt so much pleasure in her whole life. At the same time, she felt as if she nearly passed out for a moment. Jasper followed her over the edge after a few more thrusts, burying his face in her hair with a moan.

His arms collapsed as he did, and he rolled himself off her body to her side, pulling her with him. He was not ready to let her go.

For what seemed to be a very long time, they were just cuddled up next to each other, catching their breaths. Jasper was tracing his fingers over Alice’s back without really noticing it.

He felt completely and utterly drained all of a sudden. Not only because of their physical exertion but because of the emotional kind, too. In the last twenty-four hours, he’d pretty much felt every humanly possible emotion, and he was only just now realising that he was actually pretty exhausted.

Alice felt the same way. After not having slept at all last night, she noticed once more, how tired she was. She genuinely could fall asleep here, with Jasper cuddled against her and him holding her in his arms.

Her fingers were stroking gently over the scars of his chest, tracing their shapes. They didn’t bother her; she still thought he was the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen.

While her fingers traced his scars, Alice wondered if that feeling she was experiencing right now was _love_. Since she had never been in love, she had no idea what it felt like. But her heart felt like it was going to explode – and that even after her heart rate had started to go down – and she could feel a sort of fluttering sensation in her stomach.

While she watched him from the side, Alice could see Jasper’s smile. It hadn’t left his face since they’d settled in this position. He looked so incredibly happy and it made Alice’s heart jump again with excitement to think that she was the reason for it.

She turned onto her side to face him, and Jasper looked at her, still with that soft smile on his lips. Alice easily slipped back into their playful flirting of the past couple of days.

“So, Whitlock, you’re telling me, we could have done this _years_ _ago_ if you’d only gotten your shit together sooner? I can’t believe how _stupid_ we were!”

Jasper chuckled with amusement and fondness. “I know, Brandon. I mean, I’ve been trying to tell you for years that we would be good together, but _someone_ didn’t want to believe me.”

His voice was just as teasing as hers was, and he couldn’t resist the urge to pull her close for another soft kiss, despite the fact that both of their lips were sore at this point.

The Head Girl rolled her eyes. “That’s because you were an arrogant _toad_ for pretty much the entirety of our time at Hogwarts together. Clearly, you didn’t know enough about girls at the time to realize that that can actually be a huge turn-off, you know.”

She grinned and Jasper laughed.

“Some girls _did_ like that, believe it or not. I guess, I didn’t know enough about _Mary_ Alice Brandon…” He put a special emphasis on her first name to prove his point “…at the time, to know that she would be the only girl who actually _didn’t_ like that.”

“Oh, don’t give me that “you’re so different from all the other girls” shit. I don’t believe in that.” Alice’s voice was full of fake exasperation. Jasper laughed again.

“Fine,” he said softly and then added quietly, while pressing a kiss on the top of her nose: “But you are.”

Alice blushed but rolled her eyes to cover it up. “Sure.”

They smiled at each other sillily and went back to just silently lying next to each other. After a while, Alice started speaking again, looking up at the ceiling.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe we _really_ just did that.”

Instantly, Jasper was worried again, hoping instantly that she wasn’t regretting it now. If she did, he had absolutely no idea what he’d do. For him, this was the best day of his life.

When Alice saw his expression, she knew she had to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, I don’t _regret_ it. On the contrary, I want to do it again and again and again…,” she trailed off and Jasper was beaming once more.

“But,” she began. “I was just dreading the reactions from everyone at this school once they find out. It will be awful. I’ll never live that one down,” Alice shuddered for emphasis and Jasper couldn’t help himself but laugh at her.

“Maybe if you hadn’t been so intent on _loathing_ me for the last couple of years, people wouldn’t be so surprised.” Then he turned serious again because Alice genuinely seemed to worry about that. “We don’t have to tell anybody if you don’t want to. I’m not going to go out boasting about it if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

Alice shook her head. “I know you’re not. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, _Whitlock_ , I’m one of those people who stand by their decisions once they’ve made them. I’m not afraid about everybody finding out about us, I’m just sure that they will tease me mercilessly for the rest of my life.”

“I’ll protect you,” Jasper said immediately, and she grinned. “If they even dare to say one wrong word about this to you, I’ll challenge them to a duel. And I’m pretty good at duelling, so I think they’ll leave you alone.” He made it sound like a joke, but secretly kind of meant it. Nobody would be allowed to make fun of Alice or annoy her under his watch.

She giggled. It was one of his new favourite sounds, topped only by the way she’d been moaning and whimpering underneath him.

“They probably will,” Alice agreed, still beaming. “But seriously, how many girls have you been with? I hate every single one of them to the core.” Her change of topic was abrupt, and Jasper had to laugh again.

“Just three, actually. One was Maria, as you probably know, and then were these two other girls back at home called Nettie and Lucy, but it was nothing serious with either of them.” He couldn’t stop his curiosity. “What about you?”

Alice bit her lip, not really sure how well he was going to take this information. She wasn’t even sure he’d known that she wasn’t a virgin up until today and felt insecure all of a sudden. “Eh… I’ve slept with two people so far. One was a guy at a garden party my parents threw last summer, and the other was… well, Jacob Black,” She said the last name very quickly.

Jasper nodded reassuringly, sensing that she felt a little uncomfortable talking about this. “Yeah, I knew about that one.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “You did? _How_?”

She’d told nobody about this, except for Rosalie and Bella.

Jasper suddenly realized that she hadn’t really wanted for people to know about this and was suddenly worried he would get Rosalie into trouble. He just shrugged, while trying to think of something else to say, but Alice saw right through him.

She groaned. “Rosalie.”

It wasn’t a question; it was a statement.

He grinned innocently. “She and Emmett were talking about the Bella-Swan-Jacob-Black-situation the other day and your name came up. She didn’t mean to give it away.”

Alice was looking at him now with an expression Jasper couldn’t read. “And that doesn’t _bother_ you?” she wanted to know.

Jasper stared at her blankly for a moment. “Doesn’t the whole Maria-thing bother _you_?”

It _had_ , she had to admit that, after Slughorn’s party. But now, Alice felt like it was okay that they had a history with other people. Perhaps it had even been necessary to get them here, where they were now. She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess not. Not really. It _did_ bother me the other day, though, at Slughorn’s party.”

Jasper was looking at her with an incredulous expression on his face. “Wait, _what_?”

She sighed. “Yeah, I was pretty jealous actually. I wanted to scratch her eyes out.”

“You _were_?” He couldn’t believe it. Even though they’d literally just had _sex_ and Alice had told him she’d go out with him, it was still unfathomable somehow to believe that she actually liked him.

Alice nodded but was interrupted by the sound of the bell, announcing it was noon. Her eyes widened. Professor McGonagall had excused both of them from class today after the incident with the Slytherins, but so much had happened since then that she found it hard to believe it was only noon.

“Should we go to lunch?” she asked him, and Jasper almost didn’t dare to ask what she meant by “ _we_ ”.

It had a lovely ring to it, though, so he raised his eyebrow and repeated: “We?”

Alice understood his question. “Yeah, _we_. I told you, I don’t want to keep this a secret. People will find out eventually, why not right now?”

The Head Boy felt as if his heart was going to explode. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Alice grinned. “We should probably take a shower first, though. We look utterly fucked right now.”

____________________

It was pretty much exactly as Alice had expected it do be.

The moment she and Jasper set foot into the Great Hall - holding hands with their fingers interlaced - _everybody_ was staring at them.

Not just the students, but the teachers and even the ghosts, too. Internally, the Head Girl still couldn’t quite grasp what had happened herself, so she couldn’t blame people for being surprised. Had somebody told her about this only two weeks ago, she wouldn’t have believed it. It seemed impossible, even now.

Nobody was more surprised than her friends, though.

Ben, who was the first to see them, dropped the muffin he’d been holding into his cup of pumpkin juice.

“What. The. Fuck,” was all he said.

Rosalie and Emmett – _holding hands_ , too, and seemingly talking about what exactly they would have to do to still win the Quidditch Cup - looked up.

Emmett’s jaw landed on the floor even before Rosalie’s did. The blonde had expected this to happen the moment Alice had told her about her making out with Jasper last night, but she had definitely not thought it was going to happen _so_ fast.

Seth looked as if he’d seen a dementor. Bella was the only one that wasn’t overly surprised. She was smiling at her friends brightly, thinking to herself only one word: _Finally_.

When the pair reached the table, sitting down next to their friends, Rosalie couldn’t keep herself from blurting out: “Okay, what the hell did we miss there? Are you two an _item_ now?”

Jasper couldn’t bite back the big smile on his face, while Alice just rolled her eyes. Was the way they were holding hands too subtle for her friend?

“You could say that,” Jasper’s voice was betraying just how excited he was by this.

Emmett immediately started laughing and the others joined in.

“Goodness gracious, that only took like _forever_ ,” said Bella, squeezing Edward’s hand. The bronze-haired boy seemed to be only one who really didn’t care all that much that Alice and Jasper were – in fact – an item.

Emmett was still roaring with laughter when Rosalie pointed down at her now outstretched hand smugly. “I guess, that means I won the bet.”

Jasper didn’t even watch while Emmett’s face fell, because he leaned over to Alice, whispering “Let’s give them something to talk about”, before leaning in to kiss her softly.

They both ignored the gasps of their friends and pretty much everybody else in the room.

Alice, at that moment, felt like perhaps she was starting to know what love was supposed to be.

She was sure it felt a bit like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be hiding in the corner if you need me. This is the dirtiest thing I've ever written, wow. I hope I didn't mess it up completely and I hope you guys enjoyed how they FINALLY admitted their feelings. This is not the absolute end as I've written an Epilogue, too, but it is rather short. And I feel like there will be a one-shot about Rosalie and Emmett's talk too. But yeah, the Epilogue will mark the end.


	19. Epilogue

_**Epilogue** _

_**~*~** _

_Wednesday, November 9, 1977_

They had been sitting here for almost twenty minutes.

Jasper had intertwined their fingers underneath the table as soon as they had taken their seats. He did that a lot, Alice had noticed during the past two days. He never wanted to let go of her hand, almost as if he was afraid she would vaporize into thin air if their bodies weren’t continuously connected.

Not that she minded.

Ever since she’d admitted her feelings for him after that fight with the Slytherins, Alice had even started to be amused by it; she thought it was hilarious when people gaped at them incredulously in the hallways, clearly not able to believe their own eyes.

Jasper enjoyed it even more than she did. He’d admitted as much to her just this morning after breakfast. By now, the fact that Jasper Whitlock and Alice Brandon were dating was almost old news and the school gossip had started to move on to different topics. The latest thing Alice had heard, was that Benjamin Amun was going out with Tia Corbyn now, a lovely dark-haired girl from Ravenclaw.

Alice had smiled when she heard about it, not bothered at all. After all, it was only fair that he would move on after her rejection and she had been sure it wouldn’t take him long.

Yesterday, she had met him in the hallway next to the Transfiguration classrooms, leaning against a wall casually. When Benjamin had spotted her, he’d come over without hesitation and they’d had a friendly conversation.

“Whitlock, eh?” he’d asked, but with no trace of bitterness in his voice and Alice’s face had turned into an over-ripe tomato immediately. After all, she’d told the Hufflepuff that there wasn’t anybody else.

“Are you still with me, love?”

Jasper’s voice pulled her from her memory. Looking up from the spot she’d stared at for probably way too long - lost in her own thoughts -, she turned toward him.

He appeared to be a lot less nervous than she felt at the prospect of the conversation that was bound to happen soon. Alice had only been in this room once before, on the first day of this schoolyear.

Back then, Jasper had been there with her, too.

Alice couldn’t help smiling about how differently she’d felt about him then. So much had changed between them ever since.

The headmaster had congratulated them both on becoming Head Boy and Head Girl – although it was nonsensical, since _he’d_ been the one to appoint them in the first place – and had talked them through their responsibilities.

“Remember the last time we were here?” she asked Jasper with a grin, her eyes gleaming at the memory.

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Of course. I could hardly focus on anything Dumbledore was saying because I was so distracted by that blue ribbon you were wearing in your hair.”

Alice was laughing at that. “You liked that, my blue ribbon?”

“I most certainly did. It had the exact same colour as your eyes and I kept wondering how that was possible. Was it custom-made?” Jasper smiled back at her and squeezed her hand slightly.

That was something else that had stopped bothering her. A few weeks ago, Alice would have been freaked out by any indication of how much in love with her he really was. Now, it made her heart flutter.

Especially, because back then, she’d had no idea that he was so distracted by a _bloody_ _ribbon_. In fact, Alice had even been impressed by how carefully he’d seemed to listen to Dumbledore’s words, how eager he’d appeared to do this the right way.

“It _was_ custom-made, actually.” She smiled at him, pleased that he’d figured that out. “My mom took me to this old-fashioned ribbon shop in London a few months ago and the woman there told me I have the most amazing eyes and asked whether I would like a custom-made one in that same colour.”

Jasper ran his thumb over the back of her hand. Their hands were so differently sized, and, in the beginning, it had been a constant reminder of their significant height difference. Alice had felt a bit weird about it and what people would say, but Jasper had assured her that it didn’t matter.

Now, she liked the way his whole hand enveloped hers and it made her feel safe. Somehow, she simply knew that he would do anything for her; after all, he had even taken a _Cruciatus Curse_ to protect her.

“That woman was right. Your eyes are beautiful,” he agreed with a silly grin. “You need to wear that ribbon more often. It gives off these sexy schoolgirl vibes.”

Alice raised her eyebrows. “I _am_ a sexy schoolgirl.” She was joking, of course, but he didn’t seem to think so because he laughed and nodded in agreement.

“Fair enough.” And then, much quieter, he added, “It’s turning me on to even think about it.”

Alice blushed, but before she could come up with a proper response, the door behind them swung open, and Professor Dumbledore entered his office, the hem of his long robe trailing behind him. As usual, he was wearing a wry smile on his face, as if he was thinking about a good joke he once heard.

The sudden interruption made Alice and Jasper jump apart – their faces had only been inches away from each other - although the Head Boy still didn’t let go of her hand.

If Dumbledore had seen their little moment, he wasn’t showing it. “Ah, Ms Brandon, Mr Whitlock. Thank you, for coming to see me.”

As soon as he said those words, Alice started to get nervous again. Jasper, on the other hand, nodded simply and – sensing her tension – squeezed her hand again.

Dumbledore moved to the chair behind his desk and sat down across from them, looking at the pair with a sombre expression over his glasses.

“As I’m sure you’re already aware, I wanted to talk to you both personally about the incident in the second-floor hallway last Monday.”

Now, Alice and Jasper both nodded. That much they had already known.

Over the past two days, there had been countless rumours circulating the school about what had happened that day. More than once, students had tried to ask the Head Girl and Boy about it, desperate to find out the truth.

Eric was still in the hospital wing and only his closest friends were allowed to talk him, therefore people couldn’t ask _him_. So naturally, they had turned to Jasper and Alice.

For some reason, Alice was sure that nobody had talked to James about it, though.

And nobody had seen Victoria and Laurent since the whole thing had happened.

Dumbledore scratched the back of his nose, looking tired all of a sudden. “I would have talked to you sooner, but unfortunately I was summoned to the ministry and could not return until today.”

Alice wondered immediately if the reason for his visit to the ministry had been the latest disappearances of witches and wizards all over the country. Voldemort’s henchmen seemed to be everywhere at once, at least from what she’d read in the Daily Prophet just this morning.

Jasper spoke for the first time since the headmaster had entered the room, “Professor, _where_ are Victoria and Laurent? Nobody has seen them since our run-in the other day,” taking the words right out of her mouth.

The Professor’s expression was sad now. “I’m afraid, Ms Cox and Mr Auguste have decided to leave us, Mr Whitlock. “

Alice gasped at his words and saw from the corners of her eyes that Jasper’s jaw had dropped open, too.

“Where did they go?” Alice asked dumbly, finally speaking for the first time.

She knew very well that her question was pointless; all three of them knew where the two Slytherins had gone.

“How is that possible?” Jasper cut in before Dumbledore could answer her question. “How can they just leave after what happened? They were _definitely_ unconscious when we left.”

The Professor sighed. “After you two were asked to go to the hospital wing, Professor Slughorn was tasked with keeping an eye on them, given that they were members of his own house. But unfortunately, Ms Cox and Mr Auguste managed to overpower him. Apparently, they knew the consequences of their actions and weren’t willing to stick around to deal with them. They ran the entire way down to the school borders and Apparated as soon as they left castle grounds.”

While Alice could only stare at the headmaster in disbelief, Jasper seemed angry to hear that news. She could see that his jaw had tightened, and his hand was holding hers even firmer now.

“They have joined _Him_ , haven’t they?”

He didn’t have to say the words because they all knew who he was talking about.

Dumbledore gave him a serious look. “I don’t like to speculate about matters so grave, but I reckon you might be right about that.”

Alice’s shoulders tensed. She had expected this - of course she had – as soon as Dumbledore had told them about their disappearance, but to hear him confirm his theory was a different story. Even Dumbledore seemed worried, so it had to be _bad_ out there.

She wanted to ask him, but was too afraid all of a sudden. During the past months, Alice had tried to push aside what was happening in the outside world, but she could no longer afford to be ignorant about it.

“If you don’t mind, could you please tell me exactly what happened on Monday during your confrontation?” Dumbledore asked at that moment, pulling her from her thoughts once again.

Over the next half hour, Jasper and Alice tried to recount the occurrences of their fight with the Slytherins. She started, because she’d been the first person at the scene, and Jasper chimed in during the subsequent parts. They never spoke at once and always instinctively waited for the other person to finish before saying something; they were already so in synch with each other that it surprised Alice herself.

Once they finished their recount, Dumbledore looked even more tired than before. It obviously pained him to have lost two students to the dark side – literally and metaphorically.

“Thank you for telling me. I’m afraid, I will have no have choice but to formally expel Ms Cox and Mr Auguste after your report.”

Jasper snorted at those words and Alice was once more impressed by how unbothered he seemed about talking to the headmaster. Then again, he was probably used to having uncomfortable conversations with teachers, considering all the mischief he and his friends had caused over the last seven years.

“With all due respect, Sir, I don’t think they care about _that_.”

Dumbledore didn’t bat an eyelid. “I know. But it has to be done, nonetheless. I will have to report this to the ministry, of course, but unless your two fellow students are confronted and brought in by the ministry’s Aurors any time soon, that won’t do much good either.”

Alice felt her heart sink.

Even _he_ didn’t think they would be caught. At least not soon. And that could only mean that they would have plenty of time to do You-Know-Who’s bidding, murdering and torturing in this name in the meantime. She still shuddered whenever she thought about Jasper’s scream when Victoria had cursed him with the Unforgivable Curse, and it was almost unbearable to think that they would use it again on somebody else.

Dumbledore exhaled deeply. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s too late. And I will have to live with the responsibility that we should have done more to prevent this. In the end, though, it was their decision.” He paused, looking at the Head Girl and Boy again. “But there is one thing I must say: It was exceptionally brave of the two of you to stand up for Mr Yorkie, especially of you, Ms Brandon, because you were on your own at first. I have to say: It was the right choice to appoint you as Head Girl and Head Boy.”

Alice couldn’t help but be flustered by the compliment. It was high praise, coming from the greatest wizard of all time – because that was what Dumbledore _was_ , despite all of You-Know-Who’s protestations.

The headmaster continued; his face now twisted into something that almost looked like a grin. “Actually, that was another thing I wanted to talk about with you two. From what I’ve heard, you’ve become quite close over these past weeks.”

Her eyes shot up right away – how the hell did he know about _that_? She could see that Jasper looked equally as surprised. Had the Professor seen their intertwined hands underneath the table? Or did he simply listen to school gossip?

Dumbledore looked more than amused now, looking back at their shocked faces. “Not that I mind that per se. You make a good couple, I have to say. But I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that we will have to rethink your living arrangements, should you decide to… use this to your _advantage_.”

With a horrified expression, Alice stared at the Professor, her eyes wide.

He couldn’t _know_ , right? There was no way that he knew.

And then, as she tried to avoid Dumbledore’s amused eyes, her gaze landed on the portraits of the former headmasters behind him.

 _Portraits_.

Fuck.

Alice hadn’t even thought about it when she and Jasper had started to rip each other’s clothes off in the common room two days ago, but there were quite a few portraits hanging in the common room. They had probably been watching their _every_ move.

She felt as if she would _die_ from embarrassment.

Thankfully, there weren’t any portraits in their own respective rooms, so at the very least Dumbledore would not know… well, _how_ many times it had happened. Or how they had slept next to each other in the same bed every night since they had admitted their feelings for each other– or rather, since _Alice_ had admitted hers.

What was almost worse than the realisation that Dumbledore knew, though, was that Jasper couldn’t hold back his laughter right now. Probably because of her terror-stricken expression.

Trying very hard to retrain his amusement, he replied, “Don’t worry, Professor. We’ll be… _responsible_.”

Alice wished – not for the first time - that the ground would swallow her whole. Her face was beet-red and she felt as if she was sweating, too, not being able to believe that this was really happening. She threw Jasper a deadly glance, which only seemed to amuse him more.

Dumbledore had an actual grin on his face now. “I’m not sure I believe you, Mr Whitlock.”

But Alice could have sworn that he _winked_ at Jasper right then.

After that, Dumbledore dismissed them, telling them to return to class. They had been pulled out of class by Professor McGonagall earlier, Jasper from Transfiguration and Alice from Potions.

As they stood in front of the headmaster’s office, Jasper couldn’t contain his laughter any longer. “Well, that was… _interesting_.”

Alice glared at him. “I don’t see how that’s funny. I’m utterly horrified. I can’t believe we virtually received _the Talk_ from Dumbledore just now.”

“I know,” Jasper giggled. “I had my suspicions in the beginning, but now I’m actually sure: Dumbledore did this on purpose.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged, still wearing that insufferable grin on his face. Alice pretended to be annoyed, but she had to acknowledge that the situation was sort of funny.

Or would be, in hindsight.

“He – like every other person at this school, I should say – must have gotten sick of me pining after you for all these years and decided to do something about it. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the two of us were appointed as Head Girl and Head Boy.”

She had to digest that. “You think _Dumbledore_ tried to set us up?”

Jasper laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s a strange old coot.”

“Or a genius,” Alice grinned as she walked toward him - not being able to be annoyed with him any longer - and closed the distance between them. She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head in his chest.

“Or that,” Jasper pulled her closer without hesitation and rested his chin on the top of her head, whispering something into her hair softly.

“ _I’ll make sure to invite him to our wedding.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This is it. 115.000 words later, this story comes to an end. I had so much fun writing it and I'm glad that apparently, you guys did enjoy it, too. Thank you so much for your kind reviews that motivated me constantly to put that extra effort into each chapter. 
> 
> I want to specifically thank @tragicallywicked and @astreamarie for leaving me those page-long comments after the last few chapters. You guys are superstars and I love you. Big Thank You's also go to: @Rosedewdrop, @mtwalker, @coldqueen5, @FrancesFrias, @I_Would_Prefer_Not_To, @missevil and @Angie123, as well as @justjalice on tumblr. Thank you so much for telling me your opinions about this story. And to anyone else reading this story: Thank you, too!
> 
> The first chapter of my new story will be posted today as well - of course, it's another Jalice story - so if any of you want to check that out, I would be most grateful. It's a very different tone and setting, though, just to warn you. 
> 
> I have promised to write a few one-shots in the Hogwarts AU universe, too, so keep your eyes out for those :) If you have any ideas or inspirations, let me know. 
> 
> So yeah. Thank you. See you - hopefully - in the next one.


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